DAMES & TROUSERSBy: Reeve Hildes

Natalie and Reeve are best friends. Natalie sets Reeve up on a blind date. After introducing the couple, Natalie plans on leaving. But before she leaves,the two girls take a moment to chat in the bathroom...

A comfortable evening at home, quietly sitting in front of her laptop was much more appealing than a blind date. She would rather spend a Friday night writing stories. Transforming her daydreams into words, characters, and entire worlds was ten times more exciting than pretending to smile at a boring stranger who used words like “trousers”.

The bathroom door opened and Natalie hurried inside. Shutting the door behind her, she paused and gave her friend a once-over, “You’re escaping?”

Guiltily, Reeve shrugged,“Maybe a little.”

Natalie shook her head with dissappointment and moved towards Reeve, as she did she suddenly noticed that her friend’s lipstick was about two shades too dark.

"Don't get me wrong, he'd be an adorable shagetz for my Nana but he just doesn't do it for me, I'm sorry." Glancing down at the towel she asked, "What’s this for?”

“Blot your lips."

Reeve glanced in the mirror and her raspberry red lips confirmed Natalie's observation about her lipstick being too much.

Trying not to sound too irritated, Natalie went on, "What do you mean for your Nana?! Gram's our age-"Sighing at her lipstick, at the prematurely graying man waiting at their table, and at that fact that she was being snotty (be it understandingly snotty) to a friend who was only trying to help her, Reeve gently retorted,"Nat, he can't possible be our age."

Natalie shrugged as she surpressed an urge to jump to Gram's defense. With concerted effort, she smiled wanly and tossed her hair,"You're such a drama queen. Maybe Gram's like a year or two older, but he's not old! Just be nice to him Reeve, I know blind dates aren’t your favorite thing … but Gram is amazing if you give him half a chance, besides, I have to go back to work with him on Monday so... please?”

Blotting her lips, Reeve threw the towel in the trash and gave her friend a look,“For you, fine I'll do it. But he honestly looks like the guy in the Depends commercials, and that guy is about a hundred.”

Reeve glanced longingly at the partially opened window above the bathroom's stalls, and wondered, 'would it really be horrible to let Natalie go back to the table thinking I'm trailing a few steps behind ...and then I just shimmy right out of that opened window?'

It wasn’t so much that Gram looked old, but there was something about the way he carried himself.

It might have been the old man shuffle in his step or the deliberate way he moved. He wasn’t particularly bad looking, just…old.

Besides that, she’d never go out with him again because he obviously had a crush on Natalie.

“Look," Natalie held up her hands and licked her lips in a way that said, "I'll explain what's going on here."

"I'm looking." Reeve replied.

After a dramatic pause, Natalie explained, "His parents are from England.”

Reeve looked at her friend blankly,“OK…what does that have to do with anything?”

“You know. It makes him, like, older. And he uses words like “trousers”, you know what I mean?”

With a smile, Reeve shook her head no.

“He’s like…he’s more distinguished-" Natalie stammered.

“No, he's not!" Reeve laughed, "He’s an American who can trace his ancestral heritage back to England, which is honestly not that uncommon!”

Natalie smiled and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Fluffing her hair, she replied,“No, he’s more exotic and there’s something unique about him, did you really look into his eyes? They’re amazing.”

“You like him.” Reeve realized as she watched Natalie examine her own reflection.

Arching an eyebrow at Reeve, Natalie suddenly felt warmth rise to her face.

“You’re blushing!! You like him!” Reeve grinned ecstatically.

“You’re insane.” Laughing uncomfortably, Natalie folded her arms,“You’ll do anything to get out of the spotlight.”

“I don’t mind the spotlight, I just don’t want to audition for a part my friend already has in the bag.” Reeve smirked.

“Already has in the bag? Oh, whatever…”Turning away from the mirror, Natalie thought back to yesterday’s lunch with Gram.

She’d told Reeve about the conversation.

Well, not all of it.

She’d purposely left out the beginning of their discussion….

Dying of hunger, she’d been on her way to lunch. Equipped with an intense craving for a cheeseburger that she’d never in a million years admit to eating (it was common knowledge that Natalie was vegan) and her car keys, Natalie hurried to the exit door.

But, as she passed the office’s break room...there he was.

Gram sat alone, quietly munching on a peanut butter sandwich.

Lovely dark hair, slightly mussed, blue eyes starring blankly at the wall.He was alone, and this would be the perfect opportunity to get to know him...

Making a quick decision, Natalie slipped her keys into her purse.

Entering the break room, she cleared her throat, and he jumped.

“Oh! Did I startle you? Sorry.” She apologized.

He gave her a crooked smile and she realized, with delight, that this guy looked very similar to the young Harrison Ford in that series of movies Reeve loved to watch. The only reason Natalie watched them with her friend was because she had a huge crush on Harrison Ford's blue-eyed, fedora-wearing character.

There was a smudge of peanut butter on the side of his face.“No, it’s fine, you didn’t startle me.” He paused and gave her a funny smile, “OK, I’m lying, you did. It's the hair, you're blonde..."

His voice trailed off and Natalie looked at him blankly.

She touched her hair,"Um.."

"Sorry." He blushed, "That didn't come out right. I'm uh- intimated by blondes...clearly." Smiling, she felt her heart lift; it was always a good sign when a guy noticed her hair,“Well, we can be brutal. Will you have an anxiety attack if I sit next to you?”

“I’ll take my chances.” He grinned.

She wanted to get a napkin and wipe away the little bit of peanut butter that was stuck to his check.

Then again, it was actually kind of cute…

Sliding into the seat closest to him, she reached into her purse, hoping that one of the breakfast bars she often stole from Reeve happened to be floating around somewhere inside the leather handbag.

Just as she felt one such breakfast bar slip between her fingers, Gram asked,“So, how long have you been working here?”

“Way too long to still be the receptionist, that’s for sure. It seems like I should have been promoted to an admin assistant by now. I guess it's been almost five years.”

“Really?!” His eyebrows rose in surprise, “That is a bit of a …while. Um, why?”

“Why what?” She asked, unwrapping the breakfast bar.

“Well, not to pry, but I'm surprised you haven't been promoted yet. It was my understanding that Tim has every employee sign a contract guaranteeing a one-level promotion after three years of loyalty. I signed one.” Picking up his bottle of water, he took a sip.

She watched him sip his water and appreciated that, unlike most guys, he didn’t chug it like some kind of thirsty baboon.

It grossed her out when anyone, no matter how hot they were, did that.

“Huh?” She asked as she caught herself simply staring at him without listening to a word he said.

“The contract about promotions and what-not…didn’t you sign it?” He repeated.

“Oh, that. No I didn't because-” Remembering how ravenous she was, Natalie took a bite of the breakfast bar and her stomach instantly rumbled, filling the room with what sounded like thunder.

Gram gave her a look and smiled.

She felt herself blush,“Wow, excuse me.”

“Not a problem.” He laughed.

“Yeah…um…I didn’t sign a contract to work here because I was dating Tim-" Only as the words began to leave her lips did Natalie realize how bad they were going to sound, “uh…I didn’t sign a contract.”

An odd expression crept into his lovely features, as he stammered, “You and- you and Tim were dating?”

“Well, uh…no…” Trying to figure out how she was going to explain that she’d been dating Tim's cousin and he’d referred her for the job, she finally shrugged and felt her fingers move to her hair.

Gram watched her toss her hair and as she met his eyes, she’d never felt more like the proverbial “dumb blonde”.

“I know that sounded bad, but believe me, it’s not what you think! I wasn’t dating Tim- I was, um, I'd met Ti-”

Of course, at that moment, their boss entered the break room and catching his name smiled,“Whoa! That’s why my ears were burning! Guess those old wives tales are true!”

With that, the sixty-two year old businessman, Tim Darling, pointed at the two of them, snapped his fingers, and winked. His wedding band gleamed, screaming “I’m married! Look at me, I’m married!!” in their direction.

Natalie couldn’t even return Tim’s smile as she watched Gram glance at the wedding ring before taking a sip of his water.

She’d never had a moment to explain the misunderstanding because Tim, for once in his life, decided to join the two of them and eat lunch in the break room.

By the end of their lunch, Tim had convinced Gram to let “Natalie The Matchmaker” set him up with her pretty, incredibly smart, and all around lovely best friend Reeve.

“…Nat?! Come on, you like him, so you should be the one on this date, not me! You say the word and I'll climb right out of that bathroom window!” Reeve gave her a knowing smile.

Natalie sighed, “He doesn't like me.”

“Yes he does, trust me, I’m a writer.”

“I know, but …how do you know?” Natalie glanced down at a balled up paper towel that someone had thrown on the floor.

“First of all, he can’t keep his eyes off of you, and then there’s the fact that he keeps accidentally calling me your name-"

“That doesn’t mean anything, he just thinks I’m a…a-what’s the word? A bimbo, a tramp, whatever.”

Reeve bit her lip, holding back a chuckle.

“What?!” Natalie demanded.

“You’re not a "bimbo." I think you, Gram, and your love of old fashioned slang were meant to be together.” Reeve gave her friend a serious look, “You belong with a man who says trousers instead of pants. Go for it.”

Natalie, grinning at the thought of a real date with Gram, quietly replied“Well, I wouldn’t want to see him with another dame…”

“That’s the spirit! You get to hang out with Gram while I get to pretend I'm Indiana Jones and climb out of this window.”

Catching their reflection in the bathroom mirror, Reeve smiled.

"Thanks." Natalie grinned back at her friend, "Just promise me you won't put this in your next book."

"A book? No, no way." Reeve shook her head before smiling mischievously, "This is more like a short story. But, I'll change your name- and Gram's too, don't worry."

Rolling her eyes, Natalie headed for the door and paused to hold it open for her friend,"Oh, that's the name of that movie- Indiana Jones! Is it just me or does Gram look a little bit like-"

Realizing that her friend still hadn't caught the door she was holding open, Natalie paused and glanced behind her.

To her surprise, Reeve was on other side of the bathroom, reaching up to open the window.

"You were serious?!! Why don't you just use the door?!!" Natalie laughed.

Instead of answering Natalie's question like a normal person, Reeve summoned the dramatic flair of a 1950's film star, looked over her shoulder and theatrically replied,"You crazy dame, don't worry about me; go and see to your trousers."

Natalie grinned as she shook her head and watched Reeve clumsily hoist herself up and out of the window.Just as she was almost completely out of the window, one of her black heels fell to the bathroom floor.

Laughing at the ridiculous sight of her best friend scurrying out of a window, Natalie hurried to the window and picked up the fallen shoe.

"That ...was... AWESOME!" She heard Reeve shout from the other side of the window.

"Do you need your shoe?" She called.

"Uh- nah, uh- I think I'm good. Go have fun Nat!" Reeve called.

"You retard, I'm throwing it over." She threw the black shoe through the opened window and heard, "Ouch! Ugh, don't worry about me, I'm OK thanks! Now get out of the bathroom you crazy dame!"Chuckling to herself, Natalie smoothed her skirt and took a deep breath before making her way towards the handsome, trouser-wearing man of her dreams.

The End

This Life In Blueby: P.L. Jones

A note from the author: The next time I have a severe case of writer's block, I think I'll go to a nursing home and ask one of the aid's which of their patient's would be an interesting person to interview...writer's block, gone!

Older people have a lot to offer, their lives are full of stories that deserve to be heard.

There are moments in life when you have to stop and wonder what on earth you’re doing.

That is exactly how I felt as I found myself standing in the rain.

There I was, stranded on a foreign planet called Louisiana; and for some reason I was standing in front of a nursing home.

I’d forgotten my umbrella, actually no, I didn’t forget it, but until five seconds ago the weather had been perfectly sunny. Now, though, you’d have thought we were in the midst of a category sixteen hurricane.

Shivering and focusing on the sign that said,

“Sunny Oaks Assisted Living”, I approached the covered carport and moved towards the door of the building.

Even before entering the place, I was hit by an unpleasant odor.

Clearing my throat and holding my breath in an attempt to ward off the smell, I walked inside.

As I entered, a uniformed receptionist barely glanced up,

“Hello. Excuse me.” I spoke crisply, attempting to keep my mouth as close to closed as possible.

Who knew what kinds of germs would leap from the yellowed walls of this place, hoping to seek refuge inside of my mouth?

Disgusting…

The woman glanced up.

She was pretty; a young black woman with long hair pulled back by an aqua blue ponytail holder, it was a perfect match for her scrubs.

Meeting my eyes, she smiled pleasantly and said,

“Yes?“

Surprised by her reaction, I attempted to readjust myself to the whole “southern hospitality situation” that I was in because who knew how long I’d be stuck in Louisiana,

“Um…yes. I’m here to see someone.”

“Of course.” Her smile widened, and she gave me a wink, “They’re waiting for y-“ The phone rang and turning to answer it she said, “Excuse me, give me just a second.”

She answered the phone and I watched a middle aged nurse walk by; shuffling along as if her feet were aching, she slowly pushed her medicine cart from room to room.

For some reason, seeing that nurse in her white scrubs, reminded me of my grandparents.

When I was a child, every weekend, my mother and father scheduled a family trip to check in on my grandparents. While I hated the look and smell of the retirement home they’d been stuffed into, after spending a few minutes with them, I always forgot my surroundings.

Grandpa was the best storyteller known to man and our weekend routine was fairly standard. He had a wooden rocking chair which I’d climb into and, once comfortably situated; he’d pass me a piece of candy before asking,

“Do you have a joke for me?”

Most of the time I did.

I’d relate my most recent knock-knock and he would laugh.

Granpa would then give me another joke, which was always hysterical.

Then came my favorite question of his,

“Are you ready for my latest?’

My answer was an eternal, “Yes please.”

Finally eating whatever candy he’d given me, I would listen while he recounted yet another story about Little Davey.

Granpa never wrote a book about this fictional character of his, but every one of nine year old Little Davey’s adventures were kept in the most sacred of libraries, they were safely tucked away in my grandfather’s heart.

Grandma Marisol mostly spoke with my parents. Only after Grandpa’s story, would she smile fondly in my direction, ask me a slew of questions, and laugh at my responses as if they were the funniest things she’d heard all day.

I didn’t mind the laughter. It was like music…actually, I loved it.

The nurse in the white scrubs rolled her cart further down the hallway and her sneakers made a squeaky sound against the linoleum.

Applause faded and I came back to the present as the young black woman repeated my name. She looked at me carefully,

“Mrs. Lambert, are you alright?”

I nodded, thoughtfully biting my bottom lip, and listening to the sound of pouring rain pound against the roof of the building.

“It’s a pretty blue outside isn’t it?” I asked.

She smiled,

“It is, and you’ve got some blue on you. Why don’t we get you a towel and wipe away some of it?”

Standing, she came around the receptionist’s desk, I could now see that she wore a nametag, “Monique”.

I hesitated,

“I-I don’t think I want any of their towels, this place might have bed bugs…”

She smiled and glancing around, lowered her voice,

“Remember our deal? I go to the store, buy you your own fresh linen and you tell my kids your Little Davey stories when they come with me to work?”

A moment of realization hit me, crashing down like lightening as I felt myself shift into the present.

That’s right; Monique’s children… There were three; Brandon who loved baseball, Tyrell the world’s next Einstein, and shy little Latoya.

They were all still in elementary school and they claimed that I was the funniest old lady they’d ever met.

I loved telling them my grandpa’s stories.

Smiling, I nodded at Monique,

“Of course I remember.”

She patted my shoulder, looked at me kindly and said,

“Good.”

The End.

Counting Horses

By: P. L. Jones“See if you can count all of the horses we pass.” Momma called from the front seat.I sat in the back, comfortably nestled in my favorite pink sweater and blanket. The blanket was special for two reasons. One: my grandmother made it for me right before I was born. Two: It matched my pink sweater perfectly. They were like “two peas in a pod”.I had never seen "two peas in a pod" and I still don't know if "two peas in a pod" is an actual occurrence found in nature... but back then, I knew that’s what people called my Momma and I. With our matching jet black hair, dark eyes, and the smile people swore we shared, we were two peas in a pod.

One of the things we did, however, disagree on was my pink sweater. I loved it. She, on the other hand, hated that Daddy spent so much on it. He'd bought it for me the last time he came back from his favorite place, an oasis in the desert is what he called that place.

Momma called it Las Vegas. I think she let me get away with wearing it because she felt guilty. Maybe she felt guilty because, this time, the two of us were going on vacation without daddy. “All the horses?” I asked, to clarify how this counting game would work.“Yeah. You guess how many horses we’ll see for the next ten minutes and if you’re right, we’ll stop and get you a treat in the next city.”The promise of a treat was a good incentive, especially if that treat was ice cream with chocolate and caramel drizzled on the top.Turning, I pressed my nose against the car window and eagerly scanned passing scenery for horses.One, two, five, seven….I looked for horses until my eyes grew weary and began to close.It was very early in the morning, the sun hadn’t even been awake when we’d quietly left the house. It was still tucked away in it’s bed of night, just like daddy was still tucked in bed at home.Distant dreams came and went, I awoke to the sound of soft music coming from the radio.As my eyes adjusted to the bright daylight, I glanced out of the window and saw a sign that said, “Welcome to the city of Athens”.“Hey!” I exclaimed, pointing at a light blue building that I recognized.It was “Bob’s Skating Rink”, the place where I’d met my cousins for a skating party the last time Momma and I visited Athens. That time , though, it was different because daddy was with us.“You know where we are Em?” Momma asked. Her voice sounded funny, as if we were in a library and had to be quiet.I looked at her.

Her thick black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, just like mine. And from my spot in the backseat I could only see one of her eyes and the side of her face. It looked like she was biting her bottom lip and I noticed that her orange and brown floral shirt was on inside out. The tag that wasn’t supposed to be seen, advertised to the world that she wore a size EXTRA SMALL and that her blouse should be washed in cold water with like colors. “We’re going to Aunt Dana’s house?” I asked. Eager to see my two cousins, I held my breath in angst, hoping that’s really where we were headed.

Momma nodded.

I figured she was too busy biting her lip to talk.

It looked like she was sinking her teeth into it pretty hard and I had an urge to tell her to please stop because she’d hurt herself.

I was just opening my mouth to take a chance and tell her this, when suddenly, the overcast look in her eyes gave way to tears.

I watched them quickly slide down her right cheek and she started to sniff.

“Em-Emma, I’m sorry baby.” She sniffed loudly and her glistening eyes glanced at me from the rear view mirror.

I felt something like a dead weight in my chest, the more she cried, the more it sank, making it’s way to my stomach.

Slipping out of my seatbelt, which I knew she’d fuss at me for, I leaned forward to put my hand on one of her arms and heard myself sounding like her,

“It’s okay Momma, after the storm comes a what?”

This was the question she asked me the time when I fell, scrapped my knee, couldn’t stop crying, and ran to her. She cleaned up the injury, held me in a hug, and asked,

“After the storm comes a what? You know the answer Emma. When the sky is angry, and it shouts thunder, spits rain, snaps lightening like Aunt Dana snaps her fingers at me when she’s mad, after all of that scary stuff, what beautiful, colorful present does the sky give to your eyes?”

I’d smiled, first thinking of my Aunt Dana, who daddy swore was crazy, and then of a pretty rainbow.

My mom, still tightly gripping the steering wheel, stopped sniffing and glanced at me in the mirror. From the side, I could see a smile peeking from in between her tears.

“A rainbow.” She answered in her best library voice, “Get back in your seatbelt sweetheart.”

Putting my seatbelt on, I heard her say,

“Emma, you are my rainbow.”

I looked up, she was grinning in a way that reminded me of sunshine. My Momma’s smile made me know that everything would be alright.

Turning back to the window, I caught a glimpse of a horse and realized that it was the tenth one I’d seen.

“Let’s get your treat.” Momma whispered.

The End

Dear Andy Samberg

By: P.L. Jones

"Begin...now!"

Twenty-one of the twenty-two students in Benjamin Hubert's classroom picked up their pens and began to write.

This moment always had the same effect on Benjamin, he felt his lips curl into a smile.

He knew he was good.

But ...this? This was excellent.

To begin a school year with the blase blobs of human flesh who seemed to have dragged themselves, half awake, stumbling into his class and then to end the year with a room full of eager, goal-oriented students. It was exhilarating!

Delighting in the satisfaction of knowing that he was and would always be a teacher at heart, Benjamin looked around his classroom and hissmile sank away as his eyes landed on one straight A student for whom he had the highest expectations; Amy Ling.

I couldn't think.

Every time I looked down, I saw my nemesis staring back.

I'd never really had an enemy, especially had I never been enemies with a blank sheet of paper.

But, that day in Mr. Hubert's class, fifty different thesis statements hyperactively played tag in my head, running into each other, a tangled mess of words upon words.... I couldn't even separate one sentence from another.

The one clear thought I had was "what if..."

What if I accidentally misspelled a word in the very first sentence and because of this wasn't accepted into the school mom and dad wanted me to go to?What if I never lost my baby fat? What if...oh no... what if it wasn't just baby fat and I was actually fat?!What if I did get into the school mom and dad wanted me in...ugh. That was the worst "what if" of them all!

I wasn't sure how to tell my parents I had no interest in becoming the first nuclear physicist in our family. They'd be hurt.They would ask why.I'd be forced to tell them my deepest and darkest secret....

My parents had no idea that their daughter was "The Asian Girl Version of Andy Samberg, If Such A Thing Exists, Well I Guess It Does Exist Because That's Who I Am; The Asian Girl Version of Andy Samberg".

Don't laugh.

That's what I called myself in my blog. Actually, it was also the title of my blog; "The Asian Girl Version of Andy Samberg, If Such A Thing Exists, Well I Guess It Does Exist Because That's Who I Am; The Asian Girl Version of Andy Samberg."

I had over two million subscribers who posted things like,"dude! you should so be on tv!"; "haha! you're hilarious!"; and "get off the internet- you don't deserve to be here!"

That last comment came along every two weeks or so, same subscriber, a weirdo who went by the name @nachomanpowerandspam...but I learned to take it as a compliment. After doing a little bit of stalking (or as I like to call it "research") on @nachomanpowerandspam I found that this person made the same comment to a video created by Zach Galifiankias. So, I learned to take the internet's way of handing you a compliment.

Thanks "the internet"!

Having over two million people give you their attention on a weekly basis does wonders for one's self esteem, yes...but I still had no idea how to tell my innocent parents that their daughter had a secret identity as a... a comedian.

The blank sheet of paper stared at me accusingly.

I wanted to cry.

Looking up, I sighed and let my eyes wander to the window.It was a beautiful day outside. I wished to be outside, as opposed to sitting cooped up in a classroom with the fate of soon being shipped off to a campus with even larger classrooms, thicker textbooks, and less laughter. I'd be surrounded by talk of physics from large brained nerds who, though lovable, wouldn't get any of my jokes...I'd be so sad. Like a frightened and lonely french fry flying solo in an order of onion rings, like a -

"Amy."

I jumped, startled, as I heard Mr. Hubert call my name.

Glancing at my teacher, I gulped,"Yes sir?"

"See me after class for a moment, OK?"

I nodded,"Yes sir."

He went back to staring into space, and I went back to avoiding eye contact with the blank sheet of paper in front of me.

The next twenty minutes of class were torture. I heard the pens and pencils of my classmates furiously marking up their once blank space of their papers while I sat in agony.

OK, I'm being dramatic. It was kind of peaceful, to, for once...not even try; but I did feel guilty.

My parents would kill me if I never wrote that paper and never got into college.

No, they wouldn't kill me, their disappointment was the thing that would really do me in.

I sighed and the bell rang.

Everyone around me gathered their things,

"Bye Amy, see you at lunch." The girl in front of me said.

"Bye, I might be a little late." I replied and glancing at Mr. Hubert, I reached for my backpack.

As the classroom cleared out, he nodded goodbye to some of the students and made his way towards my desk.

When everyone was gone, he looked at me with concern,"What's going on? You're here, but you're not present."

I looked at Mr. Hubert's sky blue shirt, bright yellow suspenders, and gray dress pants. For not the first time, I considered the fact that this was an admirable and courageous man who stood before me. He was not afraid to be himself.

Then again, English teachers are almost never afraid to be themselves.

Glancing down, I noticed , that he also wore incredibly shiny black shoes.

This gave me a reason to smile and he, a bit uncertainly, mirrored my smile,"Well, are you planning on answering my question...?" His voice trailed off.

Coming to my senses, I shook my head and replied,"Sorry sir, I can't seem to think clearly today."

He nodded,"We all have off days. For one reason or another." He moved to sit down in one of the desks, and as I watched him ease his large frame into the desk, I was surprised to see that he fit, " The thing about writing is there's always something to say. You just have to trust yourself and go with it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean..." Mr. Hubert paused to gather his thoughts,

"Don't try to write a thesis statement, don't try to make yourself sound like the best student for their college, don't try to impress anyone. Go to what's here." He pointed towards his chest, "Write what's here and you can fix it later. That is, if you even need to fix it."

"But don't they want to be impressed? If I don't give them my best, why would they want someone who doesn't care enough to try?" I asked, looking at his yellow suspenders.

"People don't want to be impressed, they want sincerity. Even if we don't realize it, that's what we all want- honesty. With writing, you've got to be honest. Write from your he...actually, you know what? I have an idea. Write as if you're writing to someone who you admire and can relate to. Tell them who you who are and who you want to be. Be honest with them and with yourself."

To both of our surprise, we suddenly heard a low roll of thunder and less than a second later, the pitter-patter of rainfall.

The sound of the rain was so loud you would have thought the window was open.

In that rainy moment, I felt the tiniest spark of hope ...

Maybe I could write this paper.

"OK." I nodded and reached for my pen.

" I don't mean now, you can go to lunch." He smiled.

I shook my head,"No, I really want to write this, thanks Mr. H."

I heard him chuckle with something like pride.

As he stood and got a little bit stuck in the desk, I pretended not to notice. Once he'd managed to make it back on his feet, I looked up and saw him headed to the door,"Take all the time you need, I'm going to the teacher's lounge."

"Thanks." Cracking my knuckles, I went to work on the greatest paper I'd ever written.

It began with three words,

"Dear Andy Samberg"

It ended with my honesty.

As I scribbled the last line, followed by "Yours Truly, Amy Ling" I knew that I would take the letter to my parents.

I knew they would read it and look at me with raised eyebrows as they asked,"Whose Andy Samberg?"

I knew that I would then show them my blog.

Whether or not I ended up a comedian, it was important for me do this, because like Mr. Hubert said, even though we may not realize it, what each and every one of us want, is honesty.

~ The End ~

People Watching

_By: P.L. Jones

A brother and sister are temporarily stranded in an airport. They pass the time by watching the people who walk by.
“Look at this guy, what’s his story?”

Peter asked as he discretely nodded in the direction of a heavy set man who wore an angry expression underneath his ratty blue baseball cap.

Pausing to sum up the sight before her, Kate carefully examined their target.

For some reason he stood out like a sore thumb.

The man’s slow saunter reminded her of a police officer’s authoritative and yet cautious stride; his beer belly, an indication of a lack of self-discipline, was proof of a daily search for release/comfort; the angry expression on his face betrayed a dislike of how he spent his days and the ratty baseball cap, a half hearted attempt to conceal his identity.

Something about him gave away the fact that he wanted to be caught. Perhaps it was the baseball cap….

“Ex cop, recently laid off, turned free lance private investigator, um…recently divorced-” She paused and listened to the sounds of “Hellos!” and “Goodbyes” reverberating across the airport’s walls. Cracking her knuckles as she always did in moments of deep thought, Kate continued, “He’s here for a client who he doesn’t really like… following someone for them.”

With a pleased nod at her description, Kate flipped her long black hair and sat back into the uncomfortable airport seat. Ignoring the nauseating scent of old hot dogs which, quite annoyingly, had been continually wafting it’s way over from a nearby hot dog stand, she crossed her arms and looked at her younger brother, waiting for him to agree with her explanation. She knew he would agree.

She knew he would because she was pretty much always right.

“Hmm…” The man paused his trek down the concourse, stopping to wait in line at the hot dog vendor’s stand. Leaning forward, Peter craned his neck pretending to check something in his suitcase as he took a good look at the man.

Of course, as soon as Kate was done with her description, Peter noted that his sister was probably right. When the guy reached into his cheap beige jacket to get his wallet, Peter noticed a holster and sat upright, forgetting to pretend he wasn’t looking.

“Mom!”

Peter’s eyes moved a few feet ahead of the large bellied man, towards the owner of the voice. It was a little girl, about ten years old, her hair was a wild mess of red frizz and she was looking up at a woman who held one of her hands. In her other hand, the little girl held a small purple suitcase, dragging it behind her.

The older woman, tired and dressed carelessly, looked down at the girl and replied,“Matilda, I told you, everything’s going to be-"

Peter didn't catch the rest of the older woman's sentence because she and the little girl disappeared into a nearby restroom.

Glancing back at ex cop who was still waiting in line, Peter noticed the man’s head turned in the direction of the bathroom that Matilda and her mother had just stepped into.

A guy about Peter’s age, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt with the words “Rock the Machine” printed in stark white letters across the front of the shirt,quietly listened to music from his headphones as he leaned back against the wall, near the very same bathroom’s entrance.

“I think you’re right.” Peter quietly whispered to his sister, “I think he’s following that kid in the black t-shirt, or maybe some lady and her kid who just went into the bathroom. Wait, no! I think it’s the kid in the black shirt. I bet he ran away from home and his parents paid a private eye to track him d-"

Kate decidedly shook her head,“No! Nobody’s parents would hire a free lance ex cop to find their kid. They’d just use the regular police. And I saw that lady with the ugly green shirt and the kid whose hair she forgot to comb, I’m pretty sure he’s following them-”

A low roll of thunder followed by the crackling sound of lightening interrupted Kate’s line of thought, “Whoa!”

“Glad we’re not on the plane right now.” Peter glanced towards the large airport windows and into the rain pounding down from the sky’s thick black clouds.

“Yeah, me too.” Kate agreed. As she looked away from the airport passersby’s and towards the window, her eyes stopped, for not the first time, on a lady who was sitting directly across from them. She’d also been quietly waiting, all the while busy on her i-phone, in Across the Blue Airline’s waiting area for the past two hours.

Prim and proper, the woman was dressed in an expensive suit. In fact, Kate quietly appraised, everything about her seemed expensive, from the perfectly cut style of her short blonde hair to the six inch heels on her feet.

Still, something about her was just so familiar.

It was as if Kate had seen her a million times before, but she couldn’t place the woman’s face…Shrugging off the idea of actually knowing someone who could afford those kinds of shoes and clothing Kate returned to her favorite past time.

Blushing, he wondered how much of he and his sister’s “People Watching” conversation the attractive woman had heard. They’d been making up stories about people ever since they’d arrived and found their flight back home delayed due to an unexpected storm.

Peter, fourteen, and Kate, sixteen didn’t mind a delay in their arrival.

In fact, if it was up to them they would have much rather spent the entire summer in Connecticut with their cousins.

It wasn’t because there was nothing to do at home; there was too much.

Their work day began at 7 AM, where they would spend the day with their Dad, teaching tourists how to surf; evenings consisted of helping their mom with her after hours cleaning business.

Summers at home meant one word: work.

On the other hand, in Connecticut the siblings had at least eight teenage cousins to hang out with and they never had to do a thing. Both Kate and Peter were amazed by the fact that none of their cousins had a summer job. This left them free to go to the movies, swim in one of their large pools, or just spend the day at home with snacks and TV.

As beautiful as Hawaii was, it was synonymous with work while Connecticut, a welcomed change, became the exact opposite: Connecticut was a paradise where the sister and brother were temporarily allowed to forget what it was to be poor.

“Straw hats are all the rage...if you live in a retirement community.” The woman quietly remarked with a wink.

A guy sitting to her left, glanced up from his newspaper and smiled before going back to it.

Kate, noting that the newspaper-reading gentlemen to the left of Ms. Fancy Suit was checking out the sports section in between checking out Ms. Fancy Suit simultaneously realized that she evenrecognizedthewoman’svoice! It also, all at once, dawned on Kate how she knew the woman’s shoes were so expensive. She’d seen a photo of Cameron Diaz wearing the exact same pair in a recent issue of CN Magazine; the six-inch beauties were made by some Italian designer whose name she couldn’t pronounce.

Shrugging off the reoccurring déjà vous, Kate glanced at her still blushing brother, awaiting his answer.

“I was wrong.” Lowering her voice, Kate quickly explained her observation, “Look at ex cop’s! He looks hurt. I think he’s the client. He talked himself into following his ex-wife and now he see’s she’s not only dating straw hat but she’s taking straw hat on vacation with their daughter.”

Ms. Fancy Suit, the two teenagers, and the man with the lowered newspaper watched as the forty something woman, hand in hand with little Matilda, suddenly appeared.

As the two of them opened the bathroom door, Peter noticed how sad Matilda looked.

Her dark eyes, an exact replica of ex-cop’s, were filled with tears.

He gulped and thought of his own parents. True, they were far from perfect, but they were together.

Matilda, completely unaware of what had almost happened, was ecstatic as she happily exclaimed,“Daddy! Daddy!! You’re here!”

Breaking away from her dumbfounded mother’s grasp, the little girl ran to her father.

Recovering, he took her in his arms.

Matilda began to cry as she spoke,“Don’t let us move away. Please Daddy.”

Ex cop didn’t answer; he didn’t have to.

Tears seeped out of his tightly shut eyes and he kissed the top of his daughter’s head.

Peter pulled his sister back down into her chair as Across The BlueAirline’s waiting area began to, once again, buzz with life.

The blonde woman, now out of her chair and standing near Kate, lightly touched her shoulder.

Turning, Kate nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw the man who had been reading the sports section holding a camera that was aimed in her direction.

“Thatwasamazing! How often do you and your brother people watch?”

All at once, Kate remembered where she’d seen the woman’s familiar face.

Twice a week, she and her mother cleaned a beauty salon at exactly six o’clock PM. The beauty salon always had the world evening news on.

And, like clockwork, at 6:25 PM, Kate's mother would sigh as she reminded her daughter to not be so distracted by watching everything around her and, "just for once, sweetheart, focus on the task at hand!"

Kate would try, but it was impossible to not steal a peek at the news every now and then.

Alexia Kirk was one of the well dressed news anchors who Kate tried her best not to watch while she was at work.

But, for the first time, Alexia was more than a face on a far away television screen in a far away world, she was only two inches away and staring in admiration…at Kate!

“Um…we just, uh… we do this a lot when we’re bored.” Kate laughed as she stumbled over her words and finally managed to get a grip on her speech, “Actually, we don’t get bored a lot. We people watch, probably even when we’re supposed to be doing other things.”

Alexia nodded eagerly and continued the interview,

“Everyone has a story, so how…”

Peter and Kate agreed that everyone comes with a story.

They’d never been so grateful to have their story and their flight interrupted by an unexpected rainstorm.

The End

BulliesBy: P.L. Jones

"Oh my God, did you see Amber's shoes? What was she th-""Yeah! They make her twelve thousand feet taller than Brian. What loser wants to be taller than their boyfriend?""She's so dumb.""Really.""Yeah. Hey, Em, give me some gum.""I'm glad you asked, cuz I didn't want to say anything but you, like, so need a piece of gum.""Em!! Seriously, why am I even friends with you?"

The blonde twins who sat behind me were, as usual, holding court during math class and I couldn't pay attention to anything Ms. Weatherspoon was saying.

Quadratic equations are hard enough, but trying to figure them out while The Real Housewives-in-training of Clairemont Hills High are gabbing about shoes, gum, hair, and whatever else is... pure insanity and more than a little annoying.

"So, do we have any questions?" Ms. Weatherspoon asked, finally moving away from the dry erase board and turning back to face our class.

My hand shot into the air.

"Kelli? Yes?" She pointed at me, a bright expression on her face.

I hated to disappoint her, but my question was not very intriguing,"Can you possibly go over that last problem? I couldn't hear you."

She nodded,"Alright, sure. Any other questions first?"

The kid sitting in front of me, some guy named Ben raised his hand."Kurt? I mean- Benjamin?" Ms. Weatherspoon asked, nearly wincing as she corrected herself.

I wondered if she'd had a little too much coffee before school this morning.

Behind me, there was an eruption of laughter and the air suddenly smelled of rancid perfume. The cheap kind.

Apparently the blonde twins had too much coffee with their daily dose of diet pills.

Sighing, I rested my head in my hands and listened to Ben ask his question,

"Yeah. I can't hear anything either. Can I move to the front of the class?"

Ms. Weatherspoon raised her eyebrows,"Really? Is there a problem back there? Emily, Brandi? You two need to pay attention."

"We are!" Emily shrieked.

I rolled my eyes. Right. If they were paying attention, then I was just as much of a bleached blonde as she was.

Twirling my red curls, I shook my head as Brandi, the spokesperson of the dynamic duo said,"We were paying attention!! We know the answer was seven and the reason Kelli couldn't hear anything is because she kept asking me for some gum, and I kept telling her we're not supposed to have gum in your class but she kept asking me and I was like, girl, get the wax out of your ears and listen to me..."

Sitting up, I turned to face Brandi.Instead of looking at me, she kept her innocent and insulted expression focused on Ms. Weatherspoon as she rambled on.

"That's not true!" I exclaimed, turning back to my math teacher, "Ms. Weatherspoon, you know that's not true! I can't even chew gum- I have braces!"

Brandi suddenly shut up.

The class tittered with laughter and Ms. Weatherspoon sighed,"Girls, that's enough. Brandi and Emily, please take out your gum and if this happens again, I'm going to have to take some sort of action here..."

Emily muttered, "What sort of action would that be?"

"Remember that perm she got right after Winter break? Maybe that's the action." Brandi whispered.

Whirling around in my seat, I faced the two girls,"Ok, really? You're still talking?"

There comes a moment in every girl's life when she is faced with a decision; she can play the part of the victim or she can become the hero.

Then, there's the third option.

As I stood, I watched Brandi's eyes widen in shock and perhaps fear.

I have no idea what she was so scared of, I'm only 5'3 and on the skinny side, so...you know...

Turning to face my classmates as they curiously stared, probably halfway hoping for some sort of catfight , I announced,

"That's right, everyone, I have earwax. But she," Lifting my hand, I pointed at Brandi, "Does not have earwax, because she probably spends like three hours a day cleaning her ears with a candle stick. That's right after the hour she spends throwing up in her toilet because, lets be honest- we all know she has a problem."

"Kelli!" Ms. Weatherspoon exclaimed.

"That's so not true, she's lying! " Brandi sounded horrified.

"I'm not trying to be mean and honestly, I hope you get help because somewhere underneath the jealous, gossiping exterior you show off to everyone like it's something to be proud of, there's probably a halfway decent person. Like, one time you actually let me borrow a pen. That was normal human behavior. But instead of making fun of Amber's shoes-"

Amber, sitting towards the front of the class, gasped.

"-or Ms. Weatherspoon's hair, which I think is fine. Why don't you stop talking and let us pay attention so we can graduate?! " I turned to Ms. Weatherspoon, "I'll walk myself to the Principal's Office because I'm sure you'll want me to be heading that way."

She nodded and cleared her throat,"Yes Kelli."

I can't say I'm completely proud of the way I handled that day in math.There were a few things I could have said differently, but...I wouldn't call myself a bully. And I wouldn't call myself a victim.

I am an outspoken nerd.

The End

Almost Twins

By: P.L. Jones

Sometimes best friends have very little in common and that is what makes their friendship a success.

_
"So... he told me he remembered me from a party because he supposedly asked me to dance and I said, “Sure, I'll be right back.” But then he never found me after I walked away. That's sweet, right? But honestly...I DO NOT remember him! I think what happened is he asked my cousin Jade, you remember her? The short one? Well, I know everyone in my family's short- but nobody's shorter than Jade. And she has purple streaks in her hair, it's cut in like a - a whaddya call it? A pixie. A pixie cut. You know her? I think you met her last summer at my parent's barbeque. All she ate was salad. My mom was mad. She's vegan. Not my mom, Jade. Well, the guy obviously can't tell anyone in my family apart because I don't have purple streaks in my hair and I'm not four foot eight, I'm like at least five two, but he definitely asked her and he thinksI'm her! So, anyways, he... Oh! Oh! Hang on, it's Heath! Hold that thought..."

I watched Via lean off the bed and grab her cell phone, which had earlier fallen to the floor as she was gesturing.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that the person telling the long winded story and doing all of the talking through the length of a one way conversation wasn't typically the one who said "Hold that thought."

"Heath!" She sweetly sang into the phone, "Hey youuu."

She put him on speaker and leaning back, I stretched out to make myself comfortable on her bed.

I had a feeling she'd be on the phone with him for a while.

Staring at the ceiling, I listened to the two of them laugh as she coyly reigned him in.

"Yeah Babe, we should soooo definitely go there again ...yeah! I did looove those ribs, you were so right about that, yeah, but next time... um, maybe just us? Like, you and me minus your friends...."

She spoke softly.

Via always used that voice when she spoke to Heath.

I thought it was kind of funny, the way her normally loud voice would shrink all the down to a Marilyn Monroe-like whisper as soon as Heath was within earshot.

And you know what? Somehow, the soft voice always worked on him.... it caught his attention, centered him, and pretty much turned the rough and tumble high school QB into a ball of putty in her hands.

Smiling to myself, I had to give it to Via, my friend had mad skills. And the hilarious part was that she didn't even try!

I guess that kind of game just comes naturally to some people.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of kids at school who didn't get that she really wasn't trying. It irked my nerves when people talked about her like she was purposely manipulative or ditzy.

Their jealousy blinded them from seeing that, at heart, Via was an artist who made life her canvas.

A free spirit is a rare thing. I mean, how many people do you know who, with no reservations and no fear, embrace life?

Honestly, most of us just aren't that strong.

I say it takes strength to be this way because to live life to the fullest is, unfortunately, a good way to get to know pain. You have to take the good with the bad and Via happily skipped through life, just following her heart even when it led her to trouble...

Recently, it led her to Heath.

As cute as he was, I had to admit that the guy came with a lot of baggage.

At least twice, he'd almost been kicked off the football team for unnecessary fighting.

Then, there was Heath's "secret" DWI arrest that everyone in our school knew about. Somehow, Via had managed to hide it from her parents.

"So, I thought you'd be at practice after school, what happened? " He asked.

Mrs. Nguyen began to bang on the door and by now she was shouting in English, "Via! Open this door now!"

Uh-oh.

"Hold that thought." Stealing her phrase, I patted my friend on the head and nudged her away from me before hurrying to open the door for her mom.

Mrs. Nguyen stood in the doorway and her eyebrows rose in surprise when she saw me,

"Oh! Gia? I didn't know you were here."

"Yes ma'am." I replied.

"Well, you look really nice today. I like your hair this way, it’s so curly." With a serious expression on her face, she entered the room and touched my hair. I suddenly felt self conscious as she gave me an appraising once over, "Did Via help you with it?"

Via and her mother always looked perfect.

Even at that moment, while they were supposedly relaxing at home, her mother wore a spotless white suit and her makeup was flawless.

My hair is so naturally curly that Latonya, one of my other best friends from school, calls it an Italian Afro and I agree. An Afro I have. Normally, I straighten it, but that morning I just wasn't up for the dramatics of using my old flat iron, which had some kind of an electrical short.

Mrs. Nguyen finally decided to offer me a brief smile as she said, " Nice. I didn't realize that. I know Via's always trying to show you new hairstyles and those things but I'd like for you to teach my daughter how to behave properly. She's a pretty girl, but that's all she thinks about; her hair, her clothes, her boyfriends..."

"Mom!" Via cried, as she approached the two of us.

It seemed like every conversation I had with Mrs. Nguyen went about the same. She'd give me her opinion of how I looked on that particular day. She'd follow it up with either an offer of some food because I was too thin or a plea for me to teach her daughter to behave properly.

I never really knew what to say...

"Via! Why didn't you wash the dishes like I asked you to? It's a simple request, you come home, wash the dishes and when our guests come over there's no gossip about our house being a mess because our daugh - "

"She's not a guest, she's your sister! Does she really care if we have dishes in the sink?" Via interrupted.

Mrs. Nguyen returned her daughter's frown and rattled off something in Vietnamese.

Via reddened and I watched them glare at each other.

"Then why do you and dad waste money on a cleaning lady if I have to wash everyone's dishes?" Via retorted to whatever it was her mom had said.

"She's not a "cleaning lady"! She's your cousin!" Her mother's voice rose and she rolled her eyes in irritation.

"Mom, Ana’s Mexican! How can she be my cousin, what are you talking about?"

"Yen is not Mexican, she moved here from Vietnam eight months ago. Why are we still arguing? Go Wash The Dishes! Now! My sister will be here in ten minutes."

Via didn't move, "Yen?! ...Wha...the only cleaning lady I've seen is Ana and the last time I offered to help her wash the dishes she told me not to worry about it-"

I looked at Mrs. Nguyen as she replied, "Ana doesn't work here anymore. If you came home after school instead of partying with that alcoholic Twix or whatever candy bar your boyfriend is named after-"

"Heath does not drink anymore! I told you that! Ugh! Moooommm!" Via actually stomped her foot like a child and I would've laughed if she didn't seriously look like she was going to cry, "Did you fire Ana?"

Mrs. Nguyen gave me a brief glance before lowering her voice and quickly nodding as she replied, "We had no choice. She stole over a thousand dollars from us."

Via's jaw dropped and she stared at her mother.

I watched with curiosity as her eyes actually filled with tears.

"Via, please...go do the dishes." Mrs. Nguyen said with a sigh.

Wiping away a tear, Via left her mother's presence and with hunched shoulders, stalked off to their downstairs kitchen.

As I turned to follow her, I gave Mrs. Nguyen a sympathetic smile.

"You see what I mean?" She quietly asked, shaking her head.

Unsure of how to respond, I made some sort of awkward "Hmm" noise. Via was my friend and I couldn't speak ill of her, but yes, I did see what her mother meant.

"She's so emotional. It makes me wonder...Lately, she's yelling, crying, angry, then sad. I don't know....I hope she didn't do something stupid and … oh..." her voice trailed off and she paused for a moment, "If Via continues on this path- I can't- we'll have to send her to live with my other sister in Nebraska. It would be better for her there."

But as long as I’d known my best friend, she’d always been something like an emotional roller coaster.

The first time I'd met her (seventh grade of Junior High) Latonya and I had come upon her crying hysterically in the girl's bathroom because some boy didn't ask her to the Winter Formal. Latonya and I exchanged glances as we comforted her and tried not to laugh. Literally, less than fifteen minutes later, the three of us were giggling at the bad grammar in a note some random guy had slipped in Via's locker, asking her out.

"You wouldn't really send her away, would you?"

"I love my daughter...but, she's not like her brother; Van went through his adolescence with no problem. But Via, ever since she became a teenager, it's problem after problem. Via gets in trouble with another boy, skips another day of school, stays out all night again, without ever asking me takes my car to go to a party...she's too much! One day she's going to get herself in trouble and I'm afraid for her. But, her father won’t listen to what I tell him, Via’s his baby so he doesn’t see what I see. Men are like toys to her. She controls them."

I watched Ms. Nguyen sadly shake her head. She looked me and sighed. I realized that she wasn't really looking at me, she was staring past me, thinking about something.

I felt my cell phone vibrate and instantly knew it was an appointment reminder. Mrs. Nguyen, hearing the sound, came out of her thoughts and glanced at my buzzing phone.

She gave my shoulder a pat and nodded, "Good. I'm glad to hear that, your mom would be so proud of the way you and your sisters take care of him."

I shifted uncomfortably on my feet,

"Uh, thanks...so, I'll-I'll go and tell Via goodbye."

"OK." Suddenly taking my hands, she looked into my eyes, "Gia, you're a good girl, and a good friend to my daughter. If you and your family ever need anything, just say the word."

Smiling awkwardly, I nodded as she let go of my hands.

Excusing myself , I quickly made my way to their large staircase and hurried down to the first floor.

Everything about the Nguyen's house was ...polished.

Ms. Nguyen, an excessively detailed Interior Designer and Mr. Nguyen, an oncologist who was rarely at home worked hard for their well cared for home.

The first time Via had invited me to their house, I remembered walking through their front door and just standing there in shock.

From my perspective, it wasn't a house, it was a mansion.

But, as the years went by, I'd come to feel like the Nguyen's "mansion" was a sort of second home, granted it was a very different home from the tiny one I shared with my father and three sisters, but I felt comfortable there.

Passing through their large dining room, I approached the kitchen and stuck my head around the corner.

Via was standing in front of the kitchen sink with the water running on a sink full of dishes.

My heart melted when I saw that she was still crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked, making my way towards her.

She jumped at the sound of my voice.

Grabbing a paper towel, she quickly wiped away her tears, but it didn't help, because she just kept crying.

"Via?" She didn't reply and I wasn't sure what to do.

Seemingly out of the blue, one of my mom's favorite little sayings ran through my head, "When in doubt, hug."

With mascaraed tears still leaking, leaving skinny black trails down her face, she began to wash the dishes.

"Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?" I asked.

"Can I borrow a time machine?" Laughing weakly, she shook her head, "I'm so stupid."

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" I asked, "If this is about the "I love you" thing, I don't really think Heath will care that much. He'll still like you-even if, um, if he thinks you love him."

Biting her lip, she washed out a cup, giving it her full attention.

"No, it's not that. It's more like ...everything people say about me...and sometimes they think I don't know, but I know what they say, I'm not stupid.....but some of it, like, maybe it's true.... I just never make the right decisions. I'm so stupid." She quietly said.

Shaking my head, I raised my voice,

"Via, that's not true! Nobody's perfect, you're not, I'm not, none of us are. But one of the good things about you that makes you so specialis you're not afraid to make mistakes. Do you know how many people never do what they really want to because they're afraid of-"

"Or maybe because they're smart." She replied.

"Well, lots of people live to regret saying no to what they really want...but you're brave. I admire that. A lot of people do."

"No...I made a mistake." That's when the crying started again.

"Everyone does...." Then, my voice trailed off because I thought back to Mrs. Nguyen's suspicions regarding her daughter's erratic behavior, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, thanks though. Sorry for being such a-"

"Don't give me that! No apologies! I'm glad you're my friend Via, I love you and you’re awesome." Giving her another hug, I stepped away and reached in my pocket for my car keys, "I gotta pick up the bambino."

"OK, tell Gabs I said hi." She quietly said, giving me some semblance of a smile.

"She'll love that, she'll probably want to come see you though." I replied. My little sister loved Via. At first, it used to make me jealous, because she was my sister. But, eventually I realized how dumb it was to be jealous for the attention of a toddler.

"Bye." I turned and headed for the door.

"Bye and thanks Gia." She called after me.

The more I thought about it, the weirder it became. What mistake had Via made? There was something nagging me and I couldn't let it go.

My dad says I tend to over analyze everything. After carefully weighing all aspects of his observation, I've found his statement to be correct.

That was a joke. Kind of....

But, that evening, as I tucked Gabby in and kissed her good night, my mind drifted back to Via. Especially when my three and a half year old sister asked, "Why people cry?"

I looked down at her and thought about it, "Why does Gabby cry?"

She stared at me as she pondered this question. Finally, deciding on her answer, she replied, "I fall down."

I nodded. "Yes, when you fall down, it hurts. Right? You say, "Ouch!" and then you cry because it hurts."

She blinked, in what I took as an agreement.

Preparing to leave her room, I halted when she touched my arm and said, "Conner cry. He ate the cookie, he cried."

Conner was one of her little friends from Day Care.

"Conner ate a cookie and he cried?" I repeated.

She nodded, "No! No eating cookies! No! Conner ate the cookie! Him cried!"

"He cried?...Did Conner cry because Mrs. London fussed at him?" I asked.

"No. He cried!" She exclaimed.

I wondered how to explain guilt to a little girl who wasn't quite four.

"Conner was sad. If Conner listened to Mrs. London and didn't eat the cookie, he'd be happy. Good boys are happy. But, if Conner didn't listen, ate the cookie, he felt sad because he was a bad boy."

"Conner's bad boy?" Gabby seemed sincerely concerned.

"No. Today Conner was a bad boy. Maybe tomorrow Conner will be a good boy. Then, tomorrow Conner will be happy."

My little sister looked at me thoughtfully and then promptly grabbed my face pulling it towards her as she laughed,

"Eat your face, I eat your face!!"

"Argh!" I pretended to be scared and when her laughter died down, I kissed her goodnight and told her sweet dreams.

As I looked up, my dad was standing in the doorway, smiling at us.

"Daddy!" Gabby's sleepy eyes opened and she bolted out of her bed.

Uh oh.

I shrugged at my dad, "OK, it's your turn."

"That's fine. I know you have things to do. Thanks for picking her up Gia."

Sticking his hand in the mess of curls on my head, he quickly jumped away and shrieked, "Ouch!"

"I'm just kidding! I know I look fantastic, you don't have to tell me!" Flipping my hair I gave him a haughty look and he relaxed.

Picking up Gabby, who was dancing around his legs, he tossed her in the air and she squealed like a little...sea monkey. If sea monkey's actually squeal. Honestly, I'm not sure what a sea monkey is. But, I imagine that sea monkey noises are similar to that of a human toddler's squeak.

Telling them both good night, I patted my other sister, Lula, who was somehow sleeping through all of the noise. Looking down at her I saw that she was wearing a night mask and had on some sort of oddly shaped headphones.

Ugh...Lula was such a drama queen.

Leaving their room, I headed to me and my sister, Andy's room.

When I tried the door, it was locked.

Irritated, I knocked on the door and as I yelled, "Hey! Open up!" I felt a little bit like Mrs. Nguyen.

Andy opened the door, gave me a look and walked to the laptop that was sitting on her desk. I saw that she was editing one of her latest video projects.

My younger sister, Andrea, is only a freshman in high school, but she's an awesome film maker. I call her the female Steven Spielberg. Except, she's probably more of a diva than Mr. Spielberg himself.

"What are you working on? Is that AniMalls?" I asked.

AniMalls was a viral only "reality series" she was working on. She followed members of our school's cheerleading team around as they walked through the mall and talked to each other about boys, hair dye, and everything else cheerleaders talked about. I warned her that when the series went viral, they were going to kill her. She made them look incredibly ditzy. Actually, it wasn't her fault. They kind of were...ditzy.

"Yeah. I like this episode, I think it's going to be my favorite one. In this one, you get to see that Candy has...wait for it....she has a normal human heart!! It comes with a functioning conscience and everything! You kind of get to see a different side of her. Where were you after school? I thought you were going to do a few voice over’s for me." She asked without taking her eyes off the screen.

"I forgot, sorry. I was with Via. I haven't seen her in like two weeks. She's always with Heath." I answered, throwing my backpack on the floor in front of my bed.

Leaning over, I picked up a crumpled bag of chips, undoubtedly Andy's, and threw it in the trash.

While Andy is the Queen of Organized Chaos, I'm what you'd call Queen of Alphabetized Mess.

I straighten up everything and then I can't remember where any of it is, on the other hand, my sister's mess seems to help her think.

"Oh, no wonder dad's been yelling at you less these days." She remarked.

The voices of the girls in her film echoed out of her laptop's speakers before suddenly shutting off.

When the voices died down, I carefully asked, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, the more you and Via hang out the more you get into trouble because you're always taking up for her."

"That's because she's always taking up for Heath. He's the problem." I argued.

"Yeah, and that makes Via the problem, if there wasn't a Heath there would be a Ryan or a Josh or a ...lets see what other boyfriend has she had in the past six months? She's crazy and you're too soft. You're an enabler."

"I'm an enabler?" I repeated.

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I kicked off my shoes and thought about what she'd said. Maybe I was a little too easy going when it came to my friends.

There was that one time I'd let Via get away with saying I was the one who scratched her mom's car, when in reality there was no way I'd ever presume to drive Mrs. Nguyen's car.

Then, just earlier that day, I'd let a girl at school who looked hungry eat my slice of apple pie even though it was the only decent thing on my tray. I let her have it because she seemed hungry and because she asked.

So, maybe it was more than just my friends. Maybe I was an enabler to everyone I'd ever met in my entire life...

"OK, stop analyzing it Gia. I didn't mean to make you all anxious." Andy suddenly said, as she tore her eyes away from her laptop and gave me a look, "Come here, and check out this intro. Tell me if you think I should change anything."

"Wait, let me put my shoes in the closet." After putting my favorite brown sandals in our shared closet, I pulled up a chair and watched the intro she'd edited.

It was quick, snappy, and eye-catching.

"Miss Spielberg, you've done it again. I think this is going to be your best project to date." I gave her an affectionate shove.

Even though between the two of us, I'm the bony one, Andy completely fell out of her chair.

Laughing, I extended a hand to help her up.

"Ha ha. So funny," Grabbing my arm she pulled herself up and scooted back in her chair, but not before giving me a punch in the shoulder.

"Ow!" I yelped, rubbing my shoulder.

"So, are you serious? You know you can be honest with me. Are you just saying that? Like, how can it be better?" Looking at me very carefully she leaned on her desk and waited for my response.

"No, I'm not just saying that. It's the truth, I really think that's the best you've ever done. It looks clean, professional, and I like it. Also, where’d you find that music? I love the music."

"For once in her life, Via was actually helpful. She gave me her brother's contact info and he's literally ..." She sighed and I felt my breath catch in my throat, "The guy is a musical genius. I mean, he came up with that in less than five hours. I called him and since he's on break right now, he sent this to me less than five hours later. The only thing he wants is attribution in the title credits. That's all! He's amazing."

I couldn't believe my little sister had gotten in touch with Via's brother.

"Yeah, I'm glad I did too. He's incredible." She pointed to the computer screen where there was a still shot of the four cheerleaders heading into the mall, "So what do I need to change?"

I only saw Van on holidays, when he’d come home from where he went to school in Massachusetts.

Every time I saw him, the exact same thing would happen. I'd choke up, forget how to speak, forget my own name, trip on something, and end up finding an excuse to leave his presence.

Van was, without a doubt, the cutest guy I'd ever seen in my life.

I still couldn't believe my sister had called him ...and had a whole conversation with him!

"Gia?" Andy waved a hand in front of my face.

Coming out of my daze, I nodded and smoothly replied, "Oh- uh...I was ... thinking."

"Ouch, I know that's hard for you." She said with a sly smile.

I narrowed my eyes, "Ha ha, aren't we funny."

"Seriously, come on- what needs to change? I'm asking you cause you're the only person in this house who "gets" this stuff. I need help Gia, talk to me-"

"Alright- calm it down, please." I held up my hand and sighed, "I think you should get a few more shots of them outside of the mall. Because it can get kind of boring after a while, they're in the same location over and over again, give your audience's eyes a break and every once in a while move the girls to a different location. It would be awesome if you could film a little bit of this in at school, in the cafeteria, but I know that's impossible."

Shrugging, I looked at my sister, hoping what I’s suggested made some kind of sense to her.

"Maybe it's not a hundred percent impossible ..." She mused.

"Yeah well, you don't want your camera to get taken away. And Dad won’t buy you a new one-" I reminded her.

"I know, I know. But that's a good idea and I can think of something. I'll work it out." She nodded with finality.

When my sister nodded like that, what she said was pretty much as good as done.

Oh well, I hoped I wouldn't have to comfort her about a "missing" camera, taken away by some overzealous teacher.

"So..." I planned my words carefully, because Andy was much too observant for her own good, "I can't believe Van made that in just a few hours. What's he been up to these days? I bet he doesn't even remember me!" I laughed as if I didn't care.

"Yep, he's a genius who I will be bugging, constantly. I'm going to need him for all my best projects. But, next time I might need to pay him, which means I'll need a job. Oh- yeah, actually he does remember you. He asked about you."

"Really?" I gulped.

"Yep, I told him you were busy doing his former job, keeping his retarded sister out of trouble."

"Andrea! You said that? That's so rude!" I hit her on the shoulder.

Rubbing her arm, she gave me a look, "It's the truth! Your friend is like...how do I say this? If you took all of the cheerleaders from AniMalls and percentage-wise rated their gossipy-two face factor, sleaze factor, and chaos-creator factor, Via would outdo all of them by 99.9%. She's bad Gia, I don't know why you're friends with her."

I hated it when my little sister stated her opinions as if they were little known facts she'd read from an encyclopedia.

"That's not true, you're just jealous." I said, removing myself from in front of her computer.

"I'm jealous! Of what? Her drunken boyfriend who almost got her killed last month?! Oh yeah, wish I had that."

"Drop it Andy!" I warned heading to my closet.

"You're too nice. If you’re not careful, one day she's gonna get you in trouble."

"One day, your mouth is gonna get you in trouble-"

"I'm not saying that to be mean, it's just if you knew half of the dirt people had on her you might not be so quick to defend her or even be her friend." Andy started, turning from her computer she watched me rummage through the closet for my PJ's.

"And you call Via gossipy? Listen to yourself! I'm not having this conversation. And, did you do your homework? You're like failing biology aren't you? You need to do your homework before you go to bed." Finding my pajamas, I grabbed them and my favorite body wash.

"Gia, really? Stop trying to be mom, you're not good at it."

I paused in my tracks and felt the weight of what she'd said.

"Not trying to be." I muttered and forgetting whatever else I needed for the stupid shower, I left our room and slipped into the bathroom.

In the shower, I tried to wash away our conversation as well as any lingering thoughts of mom.

It's not that I wanted to forget about my mom, I just ...there was...it's just that I'd learned the hard way how impossible it is to function on a heart fueled by grief. I'd tried to do it before and it just didn't work.

Three and a half years ago when my mom died due to pregnancy complications, I'd tried to keep going, tried to give my dad a break. Instead of giving him a break, I broke myself. During that awful time, the only friend who seemed to consistently be there for me was Via. For probably the first time since I'd known her, she knew when to be quiet and just listen.

No one could tell me she wasn't a great friend. No one.

When I slipped back into our room, the lights were out, but the glow of my sister's laptop burned into the darkness. Glancing at the screen, I saw that she was rendering her video.

"Hey." Andy suddenly whispered, causing me to jump.

"Hey." I replied, making my way to the bed.

"I didn't mean that." She said.

"I know." Slipping under the covers, I sighed and tried to make myself relax.

"Yeah, well..." She paused, "Mom would be really proud of you."

Closing my eyes, I tried to picture her face.

I wondered if Andy was right.

"Thanks." I whispered into the darkness.

Turning on my side, I watched fuzzy images of my mom and dad laughing, Andy saying she was proud of me, Via crying...realizing that I was dreaming, I fell into my dreams and drifted off.

"Acck!" Bolting out of bed, I glanced at the clock. My eyes were still fuzzy and I could barely read what time it was. Rubbing my eyes, I finally saw that it was 5 AM.

"Why did you set your alarm for five?" My sister moaned from her bed.

"That's not my alarm, it's my phone." Stumbling out of bed, I tripped on a pair of Andy's flip flops as I made my way to the phone.

Glancing at it, I read the caller ID "Via's House".

Why was my crazy friend calling me at five AM? She was insane. Probably just to tell me some dream she had about meeting Shia LaBeouf.

She was like that, as soon as something funny or exciting popped into her head, she'd call you no matter what time of day or night it was.

"Via?!" I demanded.

"No-no, this is her mother. Where is she? Is she with you?" Mrs. Nguyen, sounding rather annoyed, replied.

"Uh- no? No...why would she be here? Is she supposed to-"Confused, I scratched my head and briefly wondered if there was any chance I was still dreaming.

"No? She's not with you?! Ok, ok....where is-I know I have it...the boy, what's his name....can you please give me that boy's number?" She asked.

"The boy?" My mind ran in circles, trying to keep up with the strange conversation, "What boy?"

"Heath! I need you to give me his phone number! Via's missing, she's not here and she must be with him!"

Via was missing?

"Oh, I'm sorry, let me find his number for you. Hold on."

As I moved the phone away from my ear and scrolled through my contacts for "Via's Latest"- a number that changed every two months, I saw Andy staring at me.

"Via..." I began to explain and then stopped, because I didn't want to hear her 'I told you so.'

"Yeah, I can hear Mrs. Nguyen, she is shouting. Via's missing, got that. We all know she's not actually missing." With that, Andy covered her face with her sheet and turned over, apparently attempting to get back to sleep.

She was somewhat right...it's not like this hadn't happened before.

On several occasions, my friend had assumed it would be okay to take her mother's car to the next city over for a party and then forget to tell her parents that she wasn't planning on coming home with their car that night.

I know, it sounds really bad. Via never meant to worry anyone, she just didn't think things through.

Finding Heath's number, I gave it to Mrs. Nguyen.

"...I'll text Via, and when she texts me back, I promise I'll let you know. Ok?" I assured her.

"Thank you." It sounded like she was crying as she hung up.

I felt horrible for her parents. They must have been scared out of their minds. But, I knew my friend wasn't really up to anything bad. I knew her better than that.

Collapsing onto my bed, I texted Via:

*Hey ur mom called me, u ok? need anything?*

I waited for a few minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes...and then I put down my phone, deciding that I might as well get ready for school.

When it was 6:40 and my sister and I were headed to the car, ready to go to school- I still hadn't heard back and a faint inkling of concern began to hint that it might be time to start worrying.

As I got in the car, slowly turned the ignition and watched my sister reach over to find our favorite radio station, I suddenly said, "We need to call Van."

"What? Why?" Andy asked.

"He's her brother, you know? He probably knows her better than I do." I replied, "Do you have his number? Can you call him?"

Her eyebrows rose and I could tell I wasn't the only one with a crush on Via's brother, "Sure, yeah!"

As she reached for her cell phone, she glanced at me, "You mean Via didn't call you or anything?"

I shook my head.

This was a first.

"Hmm...that's a first." She said, echoing my thoughts.

The phone was on speaker and with conflicting emotions, I listened to it ring.

There was wanting to talk to Van, there was worrying about my best friend, and then wondering how to ease into the question of "have you heard from your sister because I'm pretty sure your parents think she ran away from home or worse..."

"Yeah." She laughed and I gave her a second look because-really? Why was she laughing? Was there a joke I'd somehow missed?

"Hey Van, this is Gia." I quickly interjected before Andy had a chance to jump in and start reciting poetry to him.

Now it was her turn to give me a look.

"Gia?! Hey! Hey, Gia! My sister's twin sister, whats up?" He sounded so genuinely happy that I almost put the car in reverse instead of drive.

"Hey." Suddenly losing my voice, I cleared my throat again and decided to get straight to the point, "Actually I'm calling for a not so great reason, um, Andy and I were wondering if you happen to know where Via is. She wasn't at home this morning, so I'm guessing she took your mom's car again."

I heard him sigh, "Please tell me you're not serious."

"I'm sorry, you know she doesn't mean anything by it, she just doesn't think things through." I replied, feeling like I was beginning to repeat myself.

Pulling out of our driveway and into the street, I motioned to Andy to get her seat belt on, she replied by rolling her eyes and taking the longest time in the world to put it on.

Ignoring her, I listened as Van finally replied, "I know. I can't believe she did this again, and no I haven't heard from her. Did she text you or anything?"

"No." I quietly said.

"Me either." Andy suddenly spoke up.

I gave her a look and Andy pointed towards the windshield, "Watch the road Gia."

Fortunately, Van had already hung up, because I was pretty sure Andy would have been embarrassed if he'd heard her.

And I was right.

As soon as she was sure he was off the phone, she leaned back in her seat and groaned, "It was obvious wasn't it?"

"A little." I smugly agreed.

"Oh, shut up Gia! Ugh!...oh well..." Her voice trailed off and leaning over to pick up the book-bag that was at her feet she put it in her lap and started messing with something inside of it.

"You asked me! Why'd you ask me if you don't want to hear an answer?" I glanced in her direction and saw that she had her favorite camera in her backpack, "Seriously, Andy, please tell me you're not bringing that thing to school."

"If it's in my backpack and we're headed to school right now, where do you think I'm bringing it? To a blueberry farm so I can film myself picking blueberries?" She mumbled.

"What? Why are we talking about blueberries-"

"Sarcasm. It's called sarcasm. Ever heard of Jon Stewart? Tina Fey? Humanity in general?!" Taking out her camera she opened a side zipper on her backpack and took out two batteries.

"No, I get it, I'm not stupid." I calmly replied with a shrug, " I just wonder where you got blueberries from, why'd you pick that out of nowhere?"

"Gia, if you learned to-" Pausing as she replaced the batteries in her camera, she then went on, " If you learned to stop analyzing every little thing so much, you'd probably realize a lot more. Chill."

"That's right, learn more by NOT asking questions." I retorted.

Suddenly, she glanced at her watch. My little sister was probably the only kid in school who actually wore a watch.

With a second glance at her watch, I recognized it as mom's old watch, and I instantly understood why she wore it.

Softening, I quietly asked, "Hey, I think we've still got enough time to stop by Coffee Etc's, you feel like getting anything there? I'm paying."

"Sure." She nodded and then arched an eyebrow in my direction, "Guilty?"

"Why would I be guilty?" I carefully replied.

I didn't want to bring up mom's watch, it wouldn't be right...

"I think you know why." She gave me a funny smile and slid the camera back in her backpack, which she then returned to the floor of the car.

"Mrs. Nguyen, you know exactly what you were doing." Crossing her legs, she suddenly looked older and I felt kind of stupid as I tried to keep up with what my sister was going on about.

"Mrs. Nguyen?”I repeated, “Why are we talking about Via's mom?"

"OMG Gia, sometimes you are so slow! We're not talking about Via's mom, we're talking about YOU! You're Mrs. Nguyen and that's what I'm going to call you from now on. Either that or boyfriend stealer."

Giving her a sharp glance, I relaxed when I saw that she was grinning, "He's not your boyfriend-"

We turned into Coffee Etc's and she interrupted me, "Well, he could be, if you weren't all like, "Oh, hi there Van! You're sooo handsome by the way, I'm really worried about your sister who is also by the way my best friend!! Don't you want to marry me because I'm your sister’s best friend? Huh Van, huh?"

Laughing, I reached over to slap her as we pulled up to the drive thru line. But Andy, ducking, caught my hand and suddenly dropped it as she exclaimed, "Hey! Isn't that Heath's car?"

In the parking lot, right outside of Coffee Etc's was a vehicle resembling Heath's white SUV. I looked for the football team's sticker on the bumper...and there it was.

"Yeah, let me text him." I reached for my phone.

"That's my phone you know..." Andy mumbled.

"Oh, oops. Well, you know, I actually think I remember Heath's number...so that's OK." Dialing his cell, I decided to just call him.

The car in front of me pulled up to the speaker and I inched forward while simultaneously dialing Heath's number.

"Texting and driving..." Andy remarked.

Ignoring my sister, I put her phone on speaker and we listened to it ring.

"What?" Heath suddenly answered.

'Great mannersHeath', I thoughtfully mused.

"Via's picks 'em good." Andy whispered.

I shot her a glance and spoke up as the car in front of us moved ahead in line, "Hey, its Gia. Do you know where Via is? Her mom's freaking out and she's going to get in trouble if she doesn't call her now."

Someone behind me honked and I pulled forward.

"Heath? Are you still there?" I asked into the dead silence of his end of the conversation.

"Welcome to Coffee Etc! How may I serve you on this lovely morning?" A chipper voice from the nearby speaker inquired.

"You're at Coffee Etc?! What are you doing here?!" Heath suddenly exclaimed.

"Probably the same thing you are, we're grabbing a drink before school. Please tell me Via's with you." I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry ma'am can you repeat that?" The confused barista asked through the speaker.

"Sorry." I spoke as quickly as I could, "Listen, can you just tell me if Via's with you or not?"

"That'll be eight dollars even. See you at the window!!" Our barista chirped with the merriment of that one spunky character in that one incredibly annoying musical which, for some unknown reason, continues to be replayed every other Sunday.

"If this doesn't work out for you, I'm sure you'll do great at Disney." My sister just had to yell over my shoulder .

Cringing as I moved away from the sound of her voice, I pulled up to the first window.

"That's it, I'm out Gia. I don't know what's wrong with you and I don't have time for this." Heath said.

"Heath, wait! Don't hang-" But before I could finish my sentence, I saw that he'd hung up.

"Idiot. Why didn't he just tell you whether or not she was with him? He's so stupid." Andy shook her head in disgust.

I glanced at my sister and sighed.

She was right.

Heath was an imbecile. But...

"Did you really have to keep shouting like that? Of course he hung up! If you're trying to catch a stray dog, do you start yelling at it at the top of your lungs? Is that how you catch a stray?" I demanded while trying to keep my voice even.

My sister looked at me like I was crazy as she replied, "I have no idea how to catch a stray dog, it's not really my thing." She then pointed over my shoulder, "But I do know that when you pull up to the first window, you're supposed to pay."

Turning to my left, I met the amused gaze of a Coffee Etc barista who, quite unexpectedly, was not the Disney Princess who'd taken our order. This barista was less Plastic Cheerful and more Unibrowed With Dreds .

With his smug grin aimed in my direction, he leaned out of the window and drawled, "If you're finally ready, that will be $8.00"

Feeling myself blush, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the money.

As he somehow made taking my money into an odd, flirtatious dance between customer and cashier, I unsuccessfully tried to stop blushing and eventually resorted to avoiding eye contact.

In looking over his shoulder, I found just what my sister and I had been searching for.

There sat Via, right next to an angry looking Heath. She was gesturing wildly as she spoke to a woman whose face I couldn't see.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"You girl, you've got it going on." The barrista suddenly interrupted my thoughts and I looked up to see him arching half of his unibrow at me.

"Oh- no, I don't, really, I don't." Was the only response I managed to sputter before driving forward to the second window.

My sister thought that was hysterical, "He's no Van, but once you get past the unibrow, he's kind of cute."

"Right. Ha ha." I remarked and then turned to her, "Did you see Via in there?"

"Seriously? You saw her with Heath?" Andy sat up and stopped laughing.

"Yeah, we should-"

"Here's your great start to a great day!! One Cappuccino with extra whip, one hot chocolate, and of course a whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese! Have a wonderful day!!" Princess Disney Barista exclaimed with over-caffeinated joy.

"Thanks." I mumbled, turning to take our order out of her hands.

I pulled up and into a parking spot, once my hand was on the car door, Andy grabbed my jacket, "Hang on Gia, wait a second. Sorry but I can't be late for school again. I'll get detention and plus that my first class is Biology, I swear that teacher hates me, he won’t let me slide if I’m late. We have to keep going."

Glancing back at the coffee shop, I sighed and put the car in reverse,

"Fine. But can you please call Mrs. Nguyen and let her know we found Via?"

"OK, sorry. I would've gone in with you and-"

"No, it's fine, as long as we call Mrs. Nguyen." I waved off her apology.

"And thanks for the cappuccino." She took a sip of her drink before grabbing her cell phone.

"Sure, you're welcome." I nodded.

As she dialed the number, I wondered what on earth was going on with my friend...why was she missing school to hang out in a coffee shop with her angry boyfriend and some strange woman?

"Just to be clear," Andy's voice interrupted my thoughts, "I'm calling your mother-in-law and not you. Right? It gets confusing when you both have the same last name."

"What?" I pulled out into the street before realizing that my little sister was trying to make, yet another, joke at my expense, "So not funny."

"No, I'm serious, since you're married to her son and you both have the same last name - whose to say you didn't want me to call you because you were looking for your cell phone and needed me to-"

"I DO NOT LIKE VAN!" I shouted.

At that moment, I suddenly heard Mrs. Nguyen's voice, "Gia?! Is that you?"

Oh...no.

'As always, thank you Life. Thank you for your perfect timing and your unfailing adherence to Murphy's Law.' I thought as I shook my head and tried to figure out what to say.

"Um...Mrs. Nguyen, uh- we were calling, I mean my sister and I were calling you because we just saw Via at Coffee Etc on our way to school. She's OK, I'm sure she'll be at school later and then home after that."

" Thank God! Thank you Gia. The coffee shop on State Ave?"

I nodded.

My sister glanced at me before shouting into the phone, "Yes ma'am, the one on State Ave!"

"Thank you. OK, bye."

And with that, she was gone.

"Do you think she heard you?" My sister asked meekly.

"She did say, "Gia, is that you?" So I'm pretty sure yes, she heard me loud and clear." I replied, "But it's alright, she's got more important things on her mind."

"Sorry."

"No, it's not your fault." I glanced at my sister, "By the way, how'd you know exactly what I wanted to order?"

She shrugged, "It's the same thing mom used to order like every day."

"Oh." I nodded absently.

"You really are a lot like her you know...you've got it going on." Giving me a light punch in the shoulder, she giggled and I couldn't help but smile.

The lunch bell rang and bolting from my seat, I grabbed my purse.

Pulling out my phone, I checked my texts.

One from Latonya but none from Via.

Latonya: *Lunch outside or in caf?*

I replied: *caf, meet you by stairs*

As I maneuvered my way through the halls and down the stairs I tried Via's cell again.

Still no answer.

"Hey!" Latonya called from the foot of the stairs.

I ran down to meet her, "Hey."

"Did you hear from her yet?" She asked, flipping her long braids over her shoulder.

I shook my head, "I have no idea what's going on with her. She usually tells me when she's going to do something stupid."

We made our way to the cafeteria, where the wafting scent of day-old grease tangoed with the overwhelming sounds of high school banter.

After treading through the hot plate line we found a spot at a table.

Unfortunately the spot we'd found was in cheerleader territory.

The stench of day-old grease quickly morphed into the overpowering aroma of various Victoria's Secret body sprays and simplistic high school banter gave way to a zombie-like chorus of voices resembling Kim Kardashian's.

"I guess AniMalls is still in production." Latonya whispered, nodding towards a group of gum-smacking cheerleaders all in short white skirts.

Did they really purposely plan to all wear matching skirts? Rolling my eyes, I turned to get a closer look.

Now I saw what Latonya meant, my sister was sitting right smack in the middle of the we-get-our-tans-from-a-bottle group.

Holding her camera, she didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable.

I smiled, "Yeah, looks like it... let's hope a teacher doesn't take away her camera."

"Yeah. Hey, did you hear Heath might be moving?" Latonya made a face at the french fries on her lunch tray, "Gross, I can't eat this fried mess, want these?"

"Moving?!" Accepting her offer, I moved my tray towards hers and scooped her fries onto mine.

"Yeah." She took a bite of her salad.

"Why would he move? Where did you hear that?" I asked as I ate one of the french fries.

"Whoa, this salad is so stale. Nasty. He um...wait a second, do you think these burgers are soy or real beef?"

Let's pause for a Fun Fact about my awesome and beautiful friend Latonya.OK...as much as I love this girl, she takes a really, really loooong time getting to the point of whatever it is she's trying to talk about.

Sometimes it's funny and cute but other times, when you really want her to just spit it out, this little eccentricity of hers becomes a massive patience-thinner.

"Soy. Its always soy, they never use beef. " I replied.

"Oh." She nodded approvingly and slowly pushed her salad aside.

Then, she took a bite of her burger.

Forcing my impatience aside, I ate a few more fries and waited for her to finish chewing.

"It's just so much better than..." Her voice trailed off.

"Better than what? Living here? He actually said that?" I asked with surprise.

I couldn't imagine Heath wanting to move away from the school where he reigned as King of all Jocks.

"What?! Who? I'm talking about my burger not a he. I hope my burger wasn't at some point in it's life a he, because, if it was that means I'm no longer a vegetarian which would be awful because yousaid this was soy-"

I shook my head, "No Latonya, I meant Heath. You said Heath might be moving and I asked you why."

"Well, I was talking about my burger. Which, apparently, is soy, right?" She arched an eyebrow at me and yet took another bite of the burger in question.

Oh my...

"Why are you still eating it if you're not sure it's so-" I muttered and was interrupted by her sudden gagging as she spit out what she'd been eating,

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? I'm eating an animal?!"

"No Latonya! It's soy! It's a soy burger, just like it is every time you ask-" I hissed.

"Then why'd you scare me to death like that?!" She demanded.

"I wasn't saying it's not soy, I was just pointing out that you have to realize it's soy because you're still eating it and for the love of all that's holy every week the cafeteria has burgers and every week we have this conversation and every single time I have to tell you, "yes it's soy, no they don't use beef..." Pausing, I decided to tap into the final bit of patience I had left...and simply let the soy conversation die out.

"I just like to be sure." She said putting a napkin over what she'd spit out and then pushing her tray away, "Suddenly this all looks gross. And Gia, why are you so anxious today? Did worrying about Via do all of this to you?"

"No. Not really, maybe, I guess... yeah. I don't know, can you please finish what you were saying about Heath?" I ate another fry.

She shrugged, "Yeah sure, I heard his Dad is mad because of all the DWI's and everything so he threatened to send him out of state to some kind of military school. Can you imagine that crazy boy at a military school? Isn't that hilarious?"

When I didn't laugh, she quickly cleared her throat and said, "And by hilarious I mean sad."

"Sorry, itis kind of funny... it is. But, I'm just thinking about-"

"Via." We both said at the same time.

Latonya rolled her eyes, "Gia, I'm going to be honest with you. I love Via, she's great and she we both know she doesn't get enough credit for how sweet she is. But what you don't notice is how much you let her walk all over you. Via doesn't realize how manipulative she can be, it's just the way she is but it's bad and you're always letting her manipulate you."

"Sorry Gia, but you do. Even right now, Via's not even here and who are you all worried about? She made a huge mess, got in trouble with her parents and you're sitting here worried about cleaning up her mess. She sixteen years old, she can take care of herself! "

"But she's my friend-" I started.

"Yeah, your friend, not your responsibility. It's not like you're her mother."

Her words sank in and took their place in my head, right next to Andy's angry, "Gia, you're not mom! Stop trying to be her." There seemed to be a reoccurring theme in what my sister and my friends were telling me.

"Oh, was that too harsh? I'm sorry I-" Latonya started and was interrupted as my sister bounded up to us and plopped into the seat next to me.

"Hey!! You'll never guess what I just heard from the AniMalls. I had to come tell you this!" Andy exclaimed.

"Where's your camera?" I asked, looking down at her empty hands.

"Relax, Megan has it." She pointed to a blonde girl who had the video camera pointed at herself as she attempted to pose for a still photo.

"Wait, listen! I'm not done! Remember how last week all the money from the cheerleader's car wash thing to help them get to their Nationals competition in Florida suddenly went "missing"?"

"Yeah..." I slowly replied.

My sister gave me a look and I heard Latonya gasp.

"Put two and two together- Via's parents wouldn't give her enough money to make bail, would they? Where do you think she got that kind of-"

Just as I was shaking my head and prepared to tell my sister she was letting her imagination go too far, I heard a chorus of "Mr. Wheatley, noooo!" from the AniMall tribe.

"Andy, isn't that your camera?!" Latonya hissed.

My little sister bolted out of her seat as some kind of yelp escaped from her lips, "Ack! Mr. Wheatley, wait! No!"

She ran up to the one teacher who I happened to know was not too crazy about his diva-like, director/producer-in-training student, her Biology teacher.

There was no way she'd get that camera back.

"I'm sorry Andrea, you shouldn't bring this sort of equipment to school." I heard him say as he adjusted the thick glasses that seemed to be falling off of his unusually large nose.

"No, no- I can't let you take that. I need that camera! It's my life's work- I film, it's what I do! Mr. Wheatley, I'll take three detentions, an F in your class, whatever, but don't take away my camera!!" Her voice broke.

Uh-oh.

Miss Spielberg was losing it.

I had to do something.

"No." He shook his head, "You'll get your camera back at the end of the school year."

And with that he walked away, her camera in hand.

A hush fell over the cheerleaders as my sister started to cry.

I stood and made my way to her.

"He can't do that, he can't just take it away! I need my...camera!" She wiped her eyes and I wrapped her in a hug.

"Oh. I feel so bad." Megan gulped as she made a face which, quite surprisingly, seemed to be one of remorse.

"OMG, did you just swallow your gum Megan?" One of her friends asked.

Megan nodded.

'Oh...' I thought to myself, 'I should've known better. After all, since when do popular cheerleaders display empathy?'

"So gross." The friend made a face.

"I know, fail. But listen, Andy, chica you'll get your camera back at the end of the year." Megan said, the look of remorse still on her face.

Hmm.

My sister moved away from me and I let her go.

"I know, but I need it before then. I have followers and they're waiting for AniMalls and my other stuff- half of it's still on that camera. I can't -" Her voice broke again.

"Relax, we'll talk to Coach Benson, cause they keep all the "temporarily detained" stuff in his office so maybe Coach will let us get it back for you." Megan shrugged.

"Really?" Andy perked up.

I couldn't believe a cheerleader was being so nice to my nerdy little sister.

"Sure. Just leave it all to me." Megan smiled.

Well...Coach Benson said no. And that evening as my little sister sat in our room with her head on her desk, mumbling incoherently about how she was dead and would never be anything but a short filmer for the rest of her life, I knew I had to do something.

"Andy, it'll be OK. Look, let's ask Dad to write a note to the principal, he can request that they give the camera, which is technically his because he bought it, back to him. The Principal will have to listen to Dad."

Andy glanced up, and I saw that she was still crying,"But Dad would kill me if he found out I screwed up and brought the camera to school! He's already mad at me for practically failing biology and if he knew I lost the cam-"

That's when she started sobbing and I felt a bit of an earthquake in my heart.

Reaching over, I pat her on the back,"He's not mad at you. You just think he is because you're such a perfectionist."

It was difficult to decipher what she was saying in between sobs, but here's what I could make out,"I'm...not a...perfectionist...that's you...Dad thinks you're perfect...he...wants...me to be....like...you...."

"That's not true." I shook my head.She was so wrong.Dad was proud of Andy. She was almost exactly like him; insanely creative, stubborn, funny, and when she believed in something, it was going to happen.

"He's proud of you. Just tell him." Sighing, I moved to sit on the edge of the desk where her computer sat.

Finally, her sobbing died down and she looked up,"No." Wiping her eyes, she cleared her throat and looked around for something, "Do you have any-"

"Tissue?" I guessed and started for the box of tissues that I kept near my bed.

Handing it to her, I watched her wipe her eyes and blow her nose,"He's had enough disappointments in life. He doesn't need this too. A loser daughter who sits around posting videos online like some kinda weird...wanna be."

"Andy-"

"No! I'm not doing this anymore. I've been living in a - a daydream, a bubble! Following brainless cheerleaders around after school, spending hours editing their crap conversations ... for what?! For nothing! No more!"

Her eyes were now dry and she stood.I watched her take a thoughtful look at her book bag before going to pick it up. "What are you talking about?" I carefully asked.

She seemed a little manic.

"I'm talking about doing my homework for once. Being a kid in high school. Being normal, being you. I need to be normal." Digging in her book bag, she pulled out a notebook and a Biology Textbook, "Not that you're exactly normal, but you do a good job at faking it. If you can fake it, I can too. No more cameras, no more stupid dreams. I'm done."

"Andy-"

"Thanks for that tissue by the way. Now, I gotta do my homework." Plopping her books on the desk, she pushed her laptop out of the way and went to work on Biology homework.

This was bad.

"Well, that was the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say."

Approaching her desk, I closed the textbook she'd just opened.

"Gia!" She protested.

I shook my head and looked her square in the eyes,"We're getting your camera back. Go get your jacket."

Don't get me wrong. I am not a fan of breaking and entering or of doing anything to jeopardize one's educational career. So, I'm not proud of this part of my story but it is what it is...

As we pulled up to the school parking lot, I felt my heart beating through my chest.'This is so stupid, this is so stupid, but I have to do this...it's for my little sister.'

Just as I was thinking this, my sweet little sister punched me in the shoulder (a very hard punch I might add) and exclaimed,"Gia! Don't be retarded, we can't park here! Go down the street and park away from the school. Duhr!"

"Oh..." I mumbled and did as I was told.

I turned off the headlights and parked in front of a vacant lot in between two cute little garden homes.It was about seven fifteen in the evening and the street was dark, there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Do you have the flashlight?" I whispered.

"Got it." Andy confirmed, "Megan said she'd meet us in Coach's office. She'll have the dummy camera we'll use for the switch."

The moment I'd announced my decision to help her get the camera back, Andy's spunk returned full-force. She'd immediately called Megan and demanded use of her keys to Coach's office. Megan volunteered to switch Andy's camera with an old one of her's that was broken.

I guess cheerleaders aren't so bad after all...

"Come on let's go!" Andy urged.

We quickly made our way on campus and the closer we came to Coach Benson's office the more my life flashed before my eyes. (It was a long and painful "flash", so I guess you could call it a sort of internal short film produced by my nerves.)

The gym's doors were open, so I went in first with Andy right behind me. Coach's office was across the gym and I could see a light on inside.

As we sprinted across the darkened gymnasium, the one thought that kept running through my mind was, 'if we get caught, Dad's going to blame himself for our actions.'

This meant that we simply could not get caught.

Andy and I may not have agreed on a lot, but the one thing we did agree on was protecting my dad from disappointment. Coach's door was ajar and Andy eagerly pushed it open before stepping inside.

I held my breath.

What if it was Coach was in there? Or a janitor? Or-

"Hey! You guys are late but whatev." Megan chirped in her Kardashian-ish voice.

I relaxed, sort of, and headed inside.

Megan, clutching a very cute and very large white bag, smiled at us,"This is so exciting, I feel like I'm in a Tom Cruise movie!"

She and I laughed as Andy pointed towards a door in the corner of Coach's office,"Let's get this done, um- is that where he keeps the stuff?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but I don't have a key to that. I'm pretty sure he keeps that key somewhere in his desk. I'll help you find it."

She set her bag on Coach's chair and when she did, a small white dog poked it's head out.

Surprised, I jumped.

"Relax, it's just Mike." Megan gave me a look as she pet "Mike" on his tiny little head, "It's OK puppy, we'll be home soon."

Mike displayed his approval by licking her fingers.

Megan fished around the top of Coach Benson's desk, picking up stacks of papers, books, and photos as she searched for the keys.

"Try the drawers." Andy and I said in unison.

We glanced at each other and then went to work opening each one of his desk drawers.

As I opened a couple of drawers and sifted through the mounds of official documents I began to realize why Coach always complained about needing a raise. The amount of paperwork the guy had to do was ridiculous.

"I found some keys, this might be it!" Andy exclaimed.

Mike barked.

"Calm it Mike." Megan commanded.

"Why'd you name your dog Mike?" I asked as I glanced at the tiny puppy, who looked at me when he heard his name.

Digging in her bag and pulling out a small black camera, Megan replied,"You know how some couples get tattoos of each other's names... I don't want to do that, so I just name my dog after my boyfriend."

"Oh. That's probably smarter than getting a tattoo." I shrugged.

"Yeah and it makes me stick with a guy even when he gets annoying." She walked to the door that Andy was unsuccessfully trying to open.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well I don't want to retrain my dog to get used to a new name every three months, so I have to keep the same BF for as long as my puppy's alive." She smiled...with pride.

Andy paused from her attempts at opening the door and glanced back at me.

Avoiding my sister's eyes I did my best to politely smile as I replied,"That's smart."

"That's also why AniMalls will be a hit." Andy mumbled.

"What?" Megan asked.

Just then, the key she'd been trying worked.

"Yes!" Andy happily exclaimed, she glanced back at Megan, "Got the camera?"

"Got it!"

Suddenly, Mike barked.

"Be quiet Mikey Mike!" Megan ordered, but for some reason the little guy was energized. He jumped out of her purse and headed for Coach's closet, barking all the while.

While Andy stepped inside, I blocked the puppy from getting in.

"Come back here Mike!" Megan picked up the dog and all of a sudden I heard my sister scream,

"Acccck!!"

Rushing to the closet's entrance, I shouted,"What happened?!"

"Turn on the light! Now!!" Andy demanded.

I searched for a light switch but couldn't find one, "There's no light, just use your flashlight!"

She fumbled around with the flashlight and shouted, "There's a rat in here, I swear I saw a rat! Ugh!"

"Gross! I'm so not going in there. Here take the camera." Megan announced and I turned just in time to see her throw the camera at me.

Thank goodness I managed to catch it.

She shrugged,"It's already broken anyway."

"Gia, come here and hold the flashlight for a second."

Although I had no desire (at all) to enter the dark and rat infested closet, I didn't want this fiasco to end in not getting Andy's camera back, so I took a deep breath and went in.

Mike's barks echoed behind me and I cringed as I inhaled the large closet's damp and musty smell.

"This is more like a room, than a closet." I muttered.

There were several shelves against the wall and I caught sight of my sister, a little further down, struggling to reach the top shelf.

"Hurry!" She called.

Cautiously glancing around for the lurking rat, I jogged towards her and took the flashlight she handed to me.

Aiming it towards the top shelf, I asked,"See it?"

"Yeah..." Climbing up to the second shelf and from there stretching her hand up to reach the top shelf, she finally exclaimed, "Got it!"

"Awesome, be careful Andy. Oh-" Realizing that I was holding Megan's broken camera, I passed it to her, "Don't forget to switch it with this one."

"OK."

As we exchanged cameras, my finger accidentally grazed the "Power" button on Megan's camera and it briefly flashed to life. The blinking image of a dying battery indicated that her camera definitely wasn't broken, it just needed a battery.

Andy and I glanced at each other.

She smiled as she took the "broken" camera and placed it on the top shelf,"When AniMalls is a hit, I'm going to feel a little guilty."

"Yeah, Megan's actually kind of nice, I would've never given her a chance before all of this." I agreed, looking at my sister's sleek black camera.

It was a relief to finally have it back, but I'd be even more relieved when we were safely out of Coach Benson's office and back at home.

She jumped down from the shelf, landing, with a thud, right next to me.

"You guys OK in there?" Megan called at the sound.

"Yeah, we're good." I replied.

Taking the camera from me, my sister turned it on and muttered,"I hope he didn't scratch my lens."

I aimed the flashlight at the lens, which she then checked and, with noticeable relief, declared was alright.

I turned to head out of the closet, but Andy said,"Hang on, let me just make sure he didn't erase anything."

"Can't you check it when we're outside or back at home? I really think we should-" I started, but she'd already pressed play and the closet was filled with the sound of cheerleaders talking over each other, intermittent laughter peppering their conversation.

Suddenly, I heard Megan's familiar voice coming from the camera,"She's too good for him. I'm so serious. Heath's hot but he's like such a loser."

Interesting...

Peeking over my sister's shoulder, I took a look at the camera's view screen.

Megan, apparently, was the one holding the camera, she aimed it at one of her friends as they spoke. I recognized Candy, one of the most popular (and according to Via, meanest) girls in our school.

"Why would you say that? Via's such a slut. Everybody knows that." Candy smacked her gum and rolled her eyes before giving the camera a flirtatious wink.

I shook my head in disgust.

"If you think that's bad, try hanging out with these girls for a few weeks, it gets a lot worse." Andy mumbled.

"Why are we even still watch-" I started and then something Megan said made me shut up.

Returning to the view screen, I watched the group of cheerleaders hang onto Megan's every word as she spoke,"-she did all of that to protect him! And like I said, Heath doesn't deserve her. She stole from her own parents to bail out a lousy boyfriend who doesn't even care about her. He's just using her, everybody knows that except Via-"

Megan's voice trailed off and all of the cheerleaders seemed surprised as they looked at someone in the distance.All at once, we heard Mr. Wheatley's voice,"Young lady, what do you think you're doing with that camera?"

Shutting off her camera, Andy looked at me.

"Wow..." She whispered.

I stared into the darkness, slowly piecing things together.

Now it all made sense.

Via was crying because she stole money from her parents, who in turn, must have blamed their maid.The accused maid, Ana, had been fired by the Nguyen's for their own daughter's thievery. That's why Via felt so guilty.

"She stole from her parents?" Andy whispered.

"I guess she did." I nodded, and felt Andy's foot bump against mine, "Um...since you're stepping on my feet and all I guess that means you're finally ready to go?"

She gave me a funny look,"What do you mean stepping on your feet?"

We both glanced down and saw the rat scurry by.

Andy let out a scream and we bolted out of the closet.

"Disgusting! I'm so burning these shoes!" I groaned as Andy locked the closet door.

Megan, holding little Mike, smiled brightly,"Yeah! My Dad's place has a huge backyard. We could have a bonfire. Let's do that this weekend. Are you in?"

Without my sister around, there would have been an awkward moment of silence during which I would've been wondering what on earth Megan was talking about, but thanks to Andy that didn't happen.

She, mirroring Megan's smile, nodded enthusiastically,"Yeah, that sounds great! Just text us later with the details. Now, how about we work on getting out of here?"

Andy threw the keys back into Coach's drawer, Megan put Mike back in her purse, and I opened the office door,"I can't believe we did this!"

"I know. We oughta break into school every week, I could get used to this." Megan giggled as she and Andy trailed out of the office.

I shut the door behind us and laughed, "OK, but next time I'll just wait in the car, you guys go for it."

Mike barked in what I took as an "Amen to that sister" and I was ready to give him a friendly high five in the form of a pat on the head when we suddenly heard the gymnasium's front door open with a loud creaking noise.

"Oh my God!" Megan whispered as she looked around frantically.

There was a side door we could use to escape if it was unlocked. Pointing towards it, I whispered,"Look, that way!"

We hurried to the Gym's side exit, which was nestled between two stacks of bleachers. As we ran, Mike and Megan quietly scolded him. The creaking noise continued and suddenly ended as the door slammed shut as heavy footsteps hit the gym floor.

At the side exit, I pushed against the door, but it wouldn't budge! We could hear the unexpected "intruder's" footsteps moving closer ....Andy pushed against the door a second time, it still wouldn't open.

This was bad..."Get under the bleachers." Andy whispered.

Following her command we ducked under the bleachers. From our poorly lit (and incredibly dusty) spot under the bleachers, we peered across the gym in an attempt to get a view of the surprise visitor.All I could see was what looked like a guy in a baseball cap, but I couldn't get a clear view of his face. Something about his gait seemed familiar.

My sister gasped,"Is that-"

Mike barked.

The shadowy baseball-cap-wearing-guy turned around.

"Heath?!" The three of us exclaimed in unison.

Megan was the first to jump out from behind the bleachers, as chill as ever, she strolled up to him,"Dude, fancy meeting you here!"

Andy and I followed her towards him and I couldn't help but notice how very red his shocked face was or that he was holding a wad of money in his hands.

From my peripheral vision, I saw my sister discreetly turn her camera on. She was a pro at what my family calls "fly on the wall" filming (and, unfortunately, I've seen enough of her "This is My Sister Singing Into Her Hairbrush While She Didn't Know I Was Filming" videos starring yours truly to be able to vouch for her skills).

"What are you doing here?" Heath nervously asked.

Before Megan could respond, I replied,"Nothing much, just hanging out. Sorry about yelling in your ear earlier. Do you need our help with anything?"

He looked at me strangely.Moving closer to him, I glanced down at the money he held.

Gulping, he slowly followed my gaze down at the money,"Uh- no. I'm good."

"Are you sure?" I asked, still looking at the money, "Because if that belongs to the cheerleaders, there's a cheerleader right here."

"Wha..." Megan started, paused, and then she looked at Heath with anger, "YOU stole our money for Nationals?! That's so dumb! Why'd you do that Heath?"

"I-I didn't steal it- it was, I was borrowing it to pay Via back but she doesn't want it so, I'm putting it back. I'm not stealing." He stammered.

Folding my arms, I assessed the boy and as cute as he was, I just couldn't understand what Via saw in him.

"Gia, you know me-" He started.

"No." I shook my head, "I know a guy who drinks and drives, gets thrown in jail, and lets his girlfriend steal from her parents to bail him out. I hope that guy isn't you."

"I didn't mean to..." His voice trailed off and he glanced towards Coach's office before giving me a look, " I don't need to explain myself."

With that, he walked away, leaving us to stare after him.

"What a jerk." Megan mumbled.

Mike barked in agreement (or maybe he was just hungry and tired of sitting in her purse).

"What a mess...let's get out of here." Andy sighed and turned her camera off. Silently agreeing with her sentiments, Megan and I followed Andy to the gym's entrance.

As we pulled up to the driveway, my Dad practically ran out of the backdoor towards our car.

I glanced at my sister.

She gulped.

"Hey Dad." I cautiously called, turning off the engine and quickly opening the door.

"Where were you?!" He frowned.

"Um...we um, were with one of Andy's friends. Why?" I stammered.

"You could've left a note or sent me a text. One minute, you're here and the second I turn around you're both gone! What's that all about?" He demanded.

"Sorry-" I started.

"No, it's not her fault it was my fault. I freaked out because I didn't have my camera and we met my friend Megan so I could get it back but we ran into someone else from school yada yada, it's a long story, but the point is, it's all my fault we forgot to tell you what we were doing, cause I was freaking out and all in a rush to get my camera...sorry Dad." Andy breathlessly explained.

Dad looked at her and then at me, in that moment, I wondered, 'if certain animals can smell fear, then it's not too crazy to assume that certain parents can smell their kid's guilt.'

"Dad-" I began, but this time it was he who cut me off by holding up his hand and shaking his head.

Uh-oh.

And then, he smiled,"I'm sorry. Andy, I'm just as guilty of freaking out as your are. Just try and let me know when you're going somewhere, I ah- I got worried there, for a minute. I kept trying both of your cells and you wouldn't answer."

Andy, without missing a bit exclaimed,"Awwww! He missed us!!"

She wrapped him in a giant hug and before I knew it they were pulling me into their cheesy moment...I'll be the first to admit it, I love cheesy moments.Happening to glance up at my sister's hand (also known as her "camera tote"), Inoticed that our Fly-On-The-Wall-Filming expert had caught it all on film.

Opening the door to my room, the first thing I did was kick off my "ratty" shoes and throw them in the trash.

"Aw, you should've waited for Megan's bonfire." Andy remarked.

"I know, right." I laughed.

"Oh, no wonder we missed all Dad's calls, we left our phones here." She picked up both of our phones, which were on the computer desk, and tossed mine towards me, "I think you have a billion missed calls. They're probably all from Dad."

"You never know, one of them might be from my secret boyfriend." I joked.

"Right, the invisible one who no one can see but you." She laughed and throwing her phone on the bed, headed out of the room, "I'm going to take a shower, see ya."

"OK..." Glancing down at my phone, I saw that I had fifteen missed calls.

Andy was almost right.

Twelve of them were from Dad, but two were from Via and the other...was from Van?!

As much as I love my best friend, I decided to call the cuter of the two back first.

Van picked up on the first ring.

"Gia!"

Hearing him say my name does this thing to my brain where I get all happy and my lips can't turn down into their normal grimace.

"Hey." I said with the most ridiculous grin frozen on my face.

"Thanks for calling me back, did you get my message?" He asked.

"Oh, you left me a voice message? No, sorry. I just picked up my phone and saw I missed your call. Is everything OK?" I asked hoping Via hadn't done something else stupid.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I called to let you know we found her. Actually, she found me. She called me and um...everything's OK now."

"I'm so glad to hear that, I had a feeling she was alright." I wasn't sure how much of the story Van knew, so there was a brief moment of silence during which I tried to figure out how to phrase my next carefully worded sentence.

"So, did she tell you about the money she took-" I began but Van also started to say something,

"I also wanted to ask how much you know about Heath's-"

"Oh, sorry." I laughed awkwardly.

"No, it's OK, sorry about that. Uh- you were asking if I knew about the fifteen hundred she took from our parents?" He sighed.

"Yeah, that's it- I mean, that's what I wanted...to ask. Yes."

'Good grief Gia, just stop talking!' Cringing, I shook my head and wondered if, considering that by the end of our conversation Van would think I had the intelligence of an oatmeal cookie, a non-existent/invisible boyfriend would really be my only shot at romance.

"She told me all about that and she said she was too ashamed to tell you...so I'm guessing Heath was the one who told you the rest?" He asked.

"Sort of." I hesitated, "Somehow, one of the cheerleaders at our school found out about it and so I heard what happened from her. Then this evening I had a chance to confront Heath about it and he pretty much admitted it was all true. Listen, Van, Via's my best friend and I know she did all of that because she thought it was the right thing- she's got such a good heart but there's something about her that's, like...naive...and I'm afraid it'll get her in real trouble. You've got to talk to your sister."

"I know, you're right. She called asking to borrow fifteen hundred to pay mom and dad back. She told me she'd already talked to Ana this morning, meet her at a coffee shop and told her the truth, confessed it was her fault she'd lost her job and she's planning on telling my parents everything tonight. That's why she called me for the money, she wanted to be able to give it back to them this evening." He explained.

"Did you give it to her?" I asked.

"No, I don't think...I should. Still, I know my parents and I can imagine how my mom's going to react. It might not make a difference but, just in case it does, I'm on my way home now. I should be there in a couple of hours. Whatever my parents decide to do with Via, I think she needs to know I'm on her side. I don't agree with her choices at all, but like you said- she has a good heart."

"Yeah..." I couldn't believe he was coming all the way home for his sister.

That was so sweet.

"Also, coming home means the opportunity to meet this Heath guy and kick his skinny butt."

I laughed,"No, don't do that. Heath's not exactly skinny, he's a football player."

"Football player?" Van grunted, "Gia, I'm on a rugby team."

"Seriously?" I asked, impressed.

"Well, it's online, so it's not exactly real but...you know."

I laughed, "In that case, I hope you're joking about beating Heath up."

My sister suddenly flew back in the room and ran to her dresser as she exclaimed,"I hate it when I do this- I forgot my shampoo! Where's my shampoo!!?"

Moving away from the sound of her voice, I listened as Heath laughed and said,"Yeah. I am...But seriously, if my parents ship Via off to Nebraska, promise me you won't lose touch with her. She needs friends like you."

"I promise." After a moment, I added, "But to be honest, she's already got the perfect brother so... I think we might be spoiling her."

I jumped as Andy suddenly nudged me whispering,"Excuse me Ms. Nguyen, have you seen my shampoo?"

I shook my head and watched her stalk back to her side of the bedroom where she started searching under the bed.

And with that, I was back to having the intelligence of an oatmeal cookie; but it could've been worse. Not getting a simple joke wasn't as bad as, say, forgetting my own name or using numbers as words.

"Right. OK, well call me."

"I will." He promised.

"Do you have my number?"

There was a pause and I could've kicked myself.

Andy, holding a bottle of shampoo watched me cringe and then threw the plastic bottle at me as she whispered,"Laugh like you were joking!"

My sister the director.

Obediently, I laughed and said,"Now who's slow on the uptake?"

He chuckled and I threw the bottle of shampoo back at my sister as she grinned with pride and headed back to the bathroom.

"OK, thanks for calling Van, bye."

"See you later Gia."

I hung up and that ridiculous grin was still on my face.

Three years later, that stupid grin still makes an appearance when Van stops by to hang out with Via and I.

These days, the three amigos (a phrase Andy coined to describe Via, Megan, and I) share a place but only because Via finally learned to calm her wild side, Megan turned out to be a million times smarter than I gave her credit for (she's majoring in Physics- that's right PHYSICS), and me? I learned to let go.Well...to be honest I'm still learning to curb my need to "fix everyone" and Via does occasionally have a moment or two of poor decision making.

But I think that's what friendship is all about, it's about knowing each others faults and loving each other anyway.In all honesty, I can say that I think my mom would be proud...not just of me, but of all of us.